Shipping Trolls
by Squirthasblueglasses
Summary: In a timeline without SGrub, the trolls come of age and have to be shipped off Alternia. Without SGrub and Doc Scratch's influence, their lives have been drastically changed, and they have to face their impending adulthood, whether they want to or not.
1. The First Arrivals

It was finally here. The higher bloods dreamed of it, the lower bloods dreaded it. A rainbow of trolls approached the large ship, eager and terrified of what lay ahead. The military was one of the most common things on these trolls' minds, who were certain of their future before even entering the gargantuan ships. The hemospectrum was more important than ever before now, as the trolls were separated into their various places in society. Most of the trolls were around nine or ten, eyes fully filled in, horns mostly grown to their fullest. The time had come for this generation of young trolls to be shipped off of Alternia, starting their adult troll life.

Two trolls were "playfully" teasing each other a short ways away from the crowd, bored and waiting for their other companions. The first, garbed in a red and teal costume, bumbled around and frequently poked the other with a cane, and manically cackled like a witch during random intervals. The second was doing his very best to ignore her, but to no avail. After some red and blue static flying from his eyes, the girl backed off, smiling yet frightened. She flipped a coin to try and decide whether or not to try and act like a bumbling blind girl again, but the coin landed on scratched. Hm. Boring. She shrugged and looked around for her friends.

Most of them hadn't met each other in person, aside from the FLARPers. The trolls that did play FLARP, however, were either mortal enemies of each other or were too guilty to talk to each other since the incident. The non-FLARPers wouldn't be too hard to find, though. There were certain characteristics that they were looking for.

Yes, he has purple blood, but it's not indigo.

That could be her, except she's missing a set of fins.

Sure, he's angry alright, but his horns are too big.

That one isn't nearly sweaty enough.

This went on for a ridiculously long amount of time. When would these slackers get here? It's not like the ship's going to wait forever, and if you don't get on and they find you, you'll get culled in a second. It's not normal for older trolls to be on Alternia anyway, you would stick out like a sore thumb. But hey, there are a lot of hiding places. Caves, ditches, et cetera. You would find a hiding place, no matter how bland your miserable life would be from that point in time. Your choice.

There was silence for an even longer time. The two trolls were anxious to see their friends, but they were also curious about what they were really like. Were they really as obnoxious in person? Maybe, maybe not. How could they know until they meet?

Finally, there was a tap on the girl's shoulder, and a calm, musical voice sounded out.

"Are You The Only Two That Have Found Your Way Here?"

"Y3AH."

"I Am So Sorry I Cannot Join You," she squeaked.

Being a jadeblood, she had the "honorable" duty of tending to the Mother Grub for the rest of her life, so she could not enter a ship. There was no need for her to leave Alternia; the Mother Grub lived underneath Alternia. However, she could continue her normal life of designing and creating clothes, the only passion she might have been able to keep. Despite this, most of her time would be dedicated to tending to the Mother Grub.

"Terezi," began the jadeblood, "May I Ask Why You Are Wearing Your Flarp Outfit?"

"H3H3, 1'M GO1NG TO B3 4 PROS3CUTOR, 4R3N'T 1?"

"But…Oh Never Mind."

The jadeblood sighed. There wasn't any real artful aspect to the outfit at all. She could have added some button or ribbon to class it up a bit, but she knew that Terezi wouldn't care for it at all. The jadeblood turned to the other troll.

"How Are You Taking All Of This?"

"ii don't know. fiine ii gue22."

She knew that Sollux was lying. There was no way he was okay with the direction his life was going in. He was either going to be a biological weapon or a ship battery. Being a weapon would involve Sollux killing things by the thousands. On the other hand, if he was a Helmsman, he would be sucked dry of his life and power. Either way, he'd die at some point from overuse of power. Who would possibly enjoy something like that?

Sollux brought out his computer and started typing incomprehensible gibberish onto the screen. Great. Another ~ATH program. He opened up another tab, hastily typing a message to one of their friends. After a few minutes, he sent over the virus as well. There was a pause, and everyone was silent, waiting for the other troll to respond. But alas, no response, no obnoxious comeback to the offending backhanded insult that Sollux sent, no uncontrollable streams of consciousness in the form of curses and extended metaphors. Which wasn't a surprise, he hadn't responded to them at all since his last wriggling day, half a sweep ago.

"ST1LL NOT 4NSW3R1NG?"

"what do you thiink?"

Terezi scratched her head. Sollux turned back to his computer, frantically sending more messages, more insults, and even an apology.

"diid you 2ee anybody we know?"

"I Can Not Say That I Have."

"two bad," he said, fiddling with his computer, "ii really want two mess wiith theiir 2tuff."


	2. Just Packing and No Ulterior Motives

A short while before being shipped off, a short olive blooded troll tried to convince her moilrail to do her friend a favor. He really needed some help from a STRONG, sweaty troll, but this troll wouldn't budge from his hemospectric views.

"Abso100tley not."

"absolutely so!"

"I refuse to help a lowb100d of his color."

"you're trying to annoy me on purrpose, aren't you?"

This went on for longer than either of them wanted, yet neither troll gave in to the other's wishes. Some moilrails they had turned out to be. Sweep after sweep they had started to slowly drift apart. She blamed the racism. He blamed the kindness. He would always ban her from doing something, she would always cry when he got angry at her. Even without cursing or blatant insults, she could tell he wasn't amused with her olive blood anymore. And even though she usually took his advice, he could tell her patience was wearing thin. She was nice, but she wasn't weak.

Equius's neighbor, Vriska, had intervened in this little moilrailtic spat, and that wasn't making anything better. Anything Vriska touched never survived, and she had her hands all over their relationship. However, lately Vriska hadn't spoken to the higher bloods. She was focusing all her energy on antagonizing lowbloods. Because of this, Vriska found herself alone, but she wasn't all that angry or alone. This was how it always was, and she blamed Spidermom for most of it. Always making her kidnap and kill. Never doing a good job as a loyal custodian. Lousy old lusus.

In the present, Vriska and Equius were preparing to leave Alternia. They could take all the time they wanted to get there; they were blueb100ds, after all. Vriska had promised to help Equius pack so he wouldn't break any of his things. But there was always an ulterior motive for Vriska, who wanted a favor from Equius. She knew he was the only troll that could possibly do this insane job. No. This STRONG job.

Vriska found herself gathering bottles of milk while Equius folded towel after towel. There were so many towels, he had a whole wall dedicated to clean towels and two for sweaty ones. _How many towels does this sweatstain need?_ There were also a multitude of broken bows that Equius insisted on keeping, as well as…a certain robot that carried the likeness of another troll. _Doesn't care a8out low8loods my ass. Dou8le standards much? What an a8surd weirdo._ There were wrenches, hammers, nails, bolts, and they were all in terrible condition. _Frankly I'm surprised that these tools lasted this much time with him. What the hell are these made of anyway? _

Vriska would never understand this guy. Nobody would.

_This might 8e a good time to ask Equius a8out that favor, _Vriska thought.

"Hey, Equius,"

"What is it?"

"Well, you owe me now, right?"

"I suppose so. Why?"

"Well, I have a favor I need you to do for me." She thoroughly e%plained, er, explained what she wanted him to do.

"Not in a million sweeps."

"C'moooooooon, Equius!"

"No."

Silence.

"If helping me pack was an elaborate way for you to e%tract this favor out of me, then I suggest you leave."

"But Equius-"

"Now."

::::(


	3. When Some Other Trolls Came

Nepeta came up to the three of them with an annoyed and angered face. She had bags under her eyes, even baggier than most trolls'. She looked like she had just gotten beaten up, but she later explained it was lack of sleep. As she walked toward the group, she found herself kicking rocks and pouting, which frightened some spectators. It was rare for Nepeta to act so enraged. Something must have happened.

"WH4T'S WRONG?"

"equius."

Equius had done it this time. Yesterday he finally broke off all ties with Nepeta, leaving her without a moilrail for this tough trip off Alternia. She was scared of the ships before, but now the trip seemed even longer and scarier without a moilrail to help get through it. The ships were rumored to be crowded and run down, and they heard the recoopracoons had the minimal amount of slime for a troll to get a minimal amount of sleep. Nepeta had also heard that the higher bloods tended to beat up anybody lower than them. She wished that Equius was there to protect her and her other friends, even if he was acting strange.

"W3'LL B3 F1N3, N3P3T4, THOS3 4R3 JUST RUMORS TO SC4R3 US."

"well, you shouldn't be purring about how nice it might be either."

Nepeta also worried about what would happen to Equius. Without her, who knows what kind of trouble he could possibly get into? He could start seriously hurting lowbloods, or even killing them! Nepeta tried to erase the concept from her mind, but there it was, still looming in the back of her think pan.

The next trolls that came were part of a matched set, two neighbors in a quarrel. The whole time they walked toward the group, they were verbally fighting with each other, for it was no use to physically fight with Equius. Equius would mess you up.

"You just need to get off your high horse, sweat8all!"

"You should learn some manners and common dignity."

Equius quickly glanced at Nepeta, and then focused his attention back to Vriska.

"I am not going to stand here and listen to your 100d language. I will choose to board the more civilized ship. Good day." With another quick glance to Nepeta, he promptly left. Everybody just watched him go, not even saying a word. Anybody who made Nepeta angry-well, whatever he said to make them end their relationship, it wasn't good.

"Nepeta, do you mind if we have a little chat?" Vriska asked, careful to face herself away from the other trolls. She seemed very embarrassed, and her face was literally blue at the moment. She didn't want to crush her image by talking to a kinder troll like Nepeta, but at the same time, she needed Nepeta right now. She knew what Nepeta had been trying to do, and Vriska wanted in on it.

"why, Vriskers, why would you want to do that?"

"Just come over here."

Vriska took Nepeta's arm and dragged her over to a spot a fair distance away from the others. Everyone else was very concerned and confused, trying to figure out what in Alternia Vriska wanted Nepeta for. The two of them usually avoided each other, considering Nepeta's kindness allowed her to be wary of those who had the capability to hurt her. However, lately both of them had one thing in common.

"WH4T COULD SH3 POSS1BLY W4NT FROM N3P3T4?"

"Perhaps They Are Inquiring About Equius?"

"who really giive2 a 2hiit?"  
>"RUD3, SOLLUX."<p>

Sollux shrugged and looked back on the computer. Still nothing. They were starting to get worried.


	4. You Can't Sleep In Tonight

It was tonight, and he wasn't happy about it.

He didn't even pack the night before. There was no reason to. He didn't have anything he really wanted from his hive anyway.

For months he had neglected to answer his friends. He didn't want to tell them anything, and he sure didn't want to be shipped off. If anybody saw him in person, everything would start to make sense to them. One look and his whole cover would be blown.

Right now, he was lamenting on all of his past failures and letdowns. He remembered the time that he refused to play that one game, when he messed up that one virus, when he didn't even care about that other thing. What would have happened if he was more positive about things? That would be bullshit, he thought. That was stupid and he would never do that. But it did lead to even dumber things he did. And he lamented on all of these dumb things. That It was like his last wriggling day all over again.

Dusk approached, the time for all nocturnal trolls to wake up. But he didn't wake up. He wanted to sit in his slime and dream about nothing for the rest of his miserable life. It was tonight. He wasn't happy about it. His lusus wasn't happy about it either, but nonetheless, woke him from his recoopracoon, forced him to get dressed, and dragged him out of his hive.


	5. From Low to Highest

When Aradia came, she hugged Sollux and Terezi apologized to her again. This greeting was fairly normal.

Sweeps ago, when the FLARP incident had occurred, Aradia and Terezi blamed themselves. Tavros was suddenly a paraplegic, and Aradia was the clouder that was supposed to watch out for the team. She had been late for the game, and Tavros started by himself. She should have told him to wait for her. She always thought that if she had watched him more closely, he wouldn't have been crippled. Tavros was always saying that it wasn't anybody's fault, that he was the one that fell. Nobody should feel bad about it, he kept saying. He could deal with it.

But that wasn't the case.

Terezi knew that Vriska had something to do with it. Tavros was smart, he wouldn't have fallen off a cliff so easily. And Vriska was the only other troll they knew playing FLARP at the same time as Tavros. She had thought to tell Aradia and get revenge for Tavros, but she decided against it. Then she would be sinking to the level of Vriska. Maybe if there was a third party to intervene and tell them it would have been better if they did get revenge, Terezi would tell Aradia. But there was no third party. There wasn't anybody rallying any ring of revenge. Maybe that was for the best, Terezi had always thought. Everybody was alive, no lost limbs, nobody was blind. Tavros was the only one who had suffered. And to Aradia and Terezi, that was the worst part of it.

Terezi had avoided Aradia since the incident occurred, which cast some suspicion, but Terezi was too guilty to care. Terezi carried the weight of Vriska's guilt, the weight that Vriska had cast away. Vriska didn't seem to care about it. Vriska was probably happy about it, Terezi always thought. She and Equius probably talk about how funny crippled lowbloods are. How stupid Nepeta seemed to Terezi! She was probably walking right into Vriska's web.

Unbeknownst to Terezi, however, there was not web that Vriska spun.

Aradia looked over Sollux's shoulder at his frantic messages to a missing friend.

"still nothing?"

"…agaiin, what do you thiink?"

Seeing that Sollux wasn't going to elongate this conversation any farther, Aradia looked around her. A little ways away from their group she saw Vriska and Nepeta talking. It was strange. Vriska and Nepeta were laughing together, and hugging. Nepeta even cried some tears of joy after a while. Those two didn't really talk to each other much, but it seemed like they were lifelong friends.

"what's going on over there?"

"NON3 OF US H4V3 4 CLU3. 1T'S R34LLY W31RD."

They all found themselves staring at the odd scene. After a few minutes of staring, Vriska saw them. She immediately went back to her bluh bluh huge bitch self and started down-talking Nepeta. However, Nepeta didn't seem to mind. Nepeta even started giggling and purring.

"vriskers, i know what you're doing."

"What? No, you need to 8ack off." More giggling from Nepeta.

"you should tell them!"

"No, I don't think that would 8e a good idea…" Vriska turned away from the group, but didn't try to leave.

"What Is Going On, Vriska? Did Something Happen?"

"No. It's nothing."

There were multiple shrugs from the small crowd. Nepeta giggled, but then remembered Equius again, and slouched over. Vriska, seeing this, did something nobody would ever imagine Vriska doing. She pat Nepeta on the back, and smiled at her, as if saying "It's okay. He's a douchebag anyway." Nepeta smiled shyly back, and noticed the other trolls staring at Vriska.

"don't worry, guys. it's no big deal."

Aradia looked toward Sollux, and then back at Nepeta and Vriska. Vriska tried to look away from Aradia, as if to hide her shame, but Aradia smiled warmly back.

At that moment, Eridan and Feferi came, but they did not even acknowledge their friends, and ran right to the seadweller exclusive ship. This was normal for Eridan, but Feferi never acted like this.

For a while now, Feferi had acted…well, strange. She stopped talking about equality between trolls, and avoided speaking to the lower bloods for almost a sweep. Some were concerned that the royal blood was getting to her head, but some thought Eridan had something to do with it. Even if they were no longer moilrails, they spoke to each other on a regular basis. Gamzee had mentioned that she started contacting him on a nightly basis, which frightened the circle of friends. If Gamzee, Feferi, and Eridan started acting out, who knows what would happen. Everyone knew that they would wean Gamzee off of sopor soon; he couldn't be high forever.

Right after Feferi and Eridan left, Gamzee walked over to them. He was as high and friendly as usual, but not for long. He was greeted with a group nod and some smiles, but none of them were that friendly with Gamzee. Some were even a little intimidated by him. Neither of his best friends were here yet, so he was a little disappointed.

Nobody knew how Gamzee would act later on. He wouldn't be pleased without sopor, and he had a high chance of going bezerk. The lovable high clown would turn into a ravenous sober clown. And nobody was looking forward to that, considering both his bros were lowbloods. Or, at least Tavros was a lowblood. Nobody knew what the hell Karkat was.

A couple of adult trolls spotted Gamzee, and insisted on taking him to the ship immediately. They didn't want him conversing with too many lowbloods.

"sOrRy, My SiStErS aNd BrOs, ThEy WaNt Me ThErE nOw FoR sOmE rEaSoN."

"we'll see you later, gamzee," said Aradia.

"i WaNtEd To SeE mY bRoS, tHoUgH."

"We Do Too, Gamzee. We Do Too."

"bUt ThEy'Ll Be On ThE sHiP, rIgHt?"

"1 HOP3 TO GOG TH3Y 4R3."

They all waved goodbye, knowing that this would be one of the last times they would see him happy.

Terezi turned to the group with a serious look in her eyes.

"OK4Y, 1 N33D TO 3XPL41N SOM3TH1NG."

"What Is It?"

Terezi looked around, and made sure nobody else was around.

"K4RK4T."


	6. Crippling Anger

It was taking an excruciating long time to wheel himself over to the shipping area. Tavros had been rolling himself over since he woke up early at dusk. His arms were starting to get sore, but he didn't want to be late. Also, the giant lance on the back of his four-wheeled device didn't prove to make the trip any easier. Or lighter. If he didn't get culled immediately on account of his disability, he would try and prove himself to the Cavalreapers, so he couldn't part with this huge ass lance.

This was the first moment in his crippled life that he was angry at Vriska. He didn't know if she knew that he knew she did it, but he was fed up at her. He hadn't really thought about it until this long trek to the ship, but she sort of ruined his life. She didn't even seem guilty about it or anything! He had no idea why she did it, or even if she did it on purpose, but he promised Rufio he'd give her what for the next time he spoke to her! Which, for his sake, he hoped wasn't going to be soon.

There were so many miles for Tavros to go, and he couldn't think about Vriska the whole time! Tavros was really excited to meet his bro Gamzee, and he wanted to see Terezi and Aradia again. The three of them didn't talk to each other often enough, and he really liked their company. Tavros even missed the days of Team Charge and their battles against Team Scourge. Even if it crippled him and ruined his life, Tavros really enjoyed the extreme roleplaying.

At a point in his journey, Tavros stopped completely. He was wheeling for hours, and couldn't wheel himself any farther. He still wasn't anywhere near the ship. He could have gotten some of the fauna to push him there, but that would be mean. Then they would have to leave their habitat, and who knows if they would find their family again. Then, Tavros heard a disturbing, deafening noise.

SKREEEEEE

CLACK

Tavros turned around, and saw a large white crab lusus. Or, at least it looked like a lusus. The lusus was dragging a nubby-horned troll toward the ship docks, the same direction that Tavros was going. The troll was yelling at his lusus, but it was more like yelling in fear than yelling in anger.

"I'M NOT GOING, CRABDAD!" The troll turned and looked at Tavros, and then to the four wheeled device. He didn't let Tavros see his eyes, and put his head onto the lusus. "WELL…FUCK. UH…HEY, TAVROS. THAT IS YOU, RIGHT?"

Karkat and Tavros never met in person, but they had been trolling each other more often since Karkat's wriggling day. Karkat had been complaining about getting shipped off, and for some reason he confided in Tavros. He saw Karkat going through different phases of despair and confusion, and there were even a couple conversations where Karkat even stopped cursing (which didn't last long, obviously). Tavros didn't mind it, but he did think it was very strange. The two of them had become good friends, and as a result, Karkat hadn't been speaking to any of his other friends. Tavros wasn't quite sure why, but he must have had a good reason.

"yES, I'M TAVROS, iS THAT YOU, KARKAT?"

"…YEAH."

Then, Crabdad, seeing that Karkat had found one of his friends, left the two of them to fend for themselves.

"WAIT, NO! CRABDAD, I CAN'T GET SHIPPED OFF!"

"wHY IS THAT, KARKAT?" Karkat was still not facing Tavros.

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. BUT, WELL, WHY ARE YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?"

"i CAN'T, uMM, wHEEL MYSELF ANY FARTHER,,,cAN YOU GIVE ME A HAND?"

"FINE. WHATEVER. IT'S NOT LIKE I DON'T WANT TO GO IN THIS DIRECTION AT ALL. THANKS, TAVROS, FOR GIVING A FUCK ABOUT MY FEELINGS." Karkat went behind Tavros's four wheeled device and started pushing, "IT'S NOT LIKE I CAN STAY HERE FOREVER, ANYWAY."

"tHANKS, kARKAT,"

After a few minutes of walking silently, Karkat spoke up.

"SO HOW LONG WERE YOU WHEELING YOURSELF ALONG?"

"tHREE OR FOUR HOURS, i THINK,"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GET YOUR LUSUS TO DO IT?"

Tavros had never told Karkat about Tinkerbull.

"a WHILE BACK, i SORT OF, uHH, rAN HIM OVER, oN ACCIDENT,"

"OH. SORRY FOR ASKING ABOUT IT."

"nO, iT'S FINE,"

There was something wrong with Karkat today. He wouldn't apologize for something like this. It was kind of strange.

"aRE YOU ALRIGHT, kARKAT?"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M ALRIGHT?"

Tavros tried to look behind him to get a better look at Karkat, but Karkat held Tavros's head so he couldn't see him.

"NO, I DIDN'T MEAN FOR YOU TO LOOK OVER HERE. IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION, DUMBASS."

"iS THERE SOMETHING,,,uHH, WRONG?"

"JUST DON'T LOOK AT MY FUCKING EYES AND WE'LL BE GOLDEN."

"oHH, DOES IT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH YOUR BLOOD COLOR?"

"TAVROS, JUST SHUT UP. PLEASE."

Yes, this was really strange. There was no way Karkat would politely tell somebody to shut up.

"wHAT IS EVEN YOUR, uMM, COLOR?"

"I'M NOT TELLING ANYBODY."

"bUT WON'T IT BE OBVIOUS WHEN SOMEBODY LOOKS AT YOUR EYES?"

Silence.

And they were silent the whole rest of the way there.


	7. Parting Gifts

"F1N4LLY," shouted Terezi, "1 THOUGHT YOU TWO WOULD N3V3R G3T H3R3. W3'V3 B33N T4LK1NG ABOUT YOU, K4RK4T, H3H3."

Karkat wheeled Tavros over to the group, and then stood back, covering his eyes and turning his head.

"hey kk, two bu2y two even talk two u2?"

"YEAH, SORRY ABOUT THAT, MY BAD."

Everybody stared at Karkat as if he had just said he was a giant piece of troll cotton candy that participated in the hunts every sweep.

"what'2 hii2 deal?"

"hE'S BEEN LIKE THAT SINCE, uMM, i RAN INTO HIM ON THE ROAD,"

Kanaya counted all of the trolls present.

"So Everybody Has Assembled Now, In Exception To The Ones That Left?"

"Were we w8ing for everyone?"

"wasn't that obvious, vriskers?"

"yes, everybody is here, kanaya."

"Good Because I Would Like To Bestow Some Parting Gifts To You." Kanaya brought out a rather large suitcase and started rummaging through it. "I Would Not Want Any Of You To Leave Alternia Without The Proper Attire."

Kanaya flipped open her suitcase, and revealed the outfits to the group. There were so many colors inside, it was like somebody killed a whole hemospectrum and stuffed it inside the suitcase. Kanaya took out outfits one by one and handed them out. Some were in boxes, but some were just lying there, as if she packed them in a hurry.

The first one was inside a box, and when Kanaya opened it, there was a more stylish and more mature version of Terezi's FLARP outfit inside. The costume that Terezi was currently wearing was out of date: it was entirely too small, and most of the parts on it were too tight on her. Terezi was quite pleased with it.

"H3H3, TH1S 1S GR34T. 1 W4S WORR13D YOU'D G1V3 M3 SOM3TH1NG TOO FL4SHY."

"You Would Not Wear It If I Made It Like That."

"SO TRU3."

The next one was folded inside the suitcase very carefully, and was a dark maroon and black dress that would go all the way down to a troll's ankles. The buttons on the front formed a zigzag pattern. It was obvious it was Aradia's.

"it's so lovely! i promise to put it on as soon as we have free time on the ship."

Kanaya carefully took out an olive outfit. It looked very comfortable; it was a simpler shirt and pants, with a buttoned jacket.

"I Made It So You Could Move Easily During Your…Hunts."

"that's so purrfect! thank you, kanaya!" she purred.

After that, there was a red and blue one. There were two of every pattern on it, and there was no doubt that it belonged to Sollux.

"I Wanted To Make It Just Yellow, But I Know You Are A Big Fan Of Duality."

"thank2, iit'2 alriight." Sollux tried to act like he didn't care, but it was easy to see he really appreciated the gesture.

"Vriska," said Kanaya, "Here You Go."

It was an outfit that looked very similar to Vriska's old Mindfang costume that didn't fit her anymore. She was going to be a pirate, after all. She needed to dress the part.

"Well, it's not useless, so that's pretty cool."

"Are You Implying That My Sewing Is Useless?"

"Why would you ever think that, Kanaya?"

Tavros's was a strange one. It was very nice, but…It didn't have any kind of pants on them.

"uHH, kANAYA?"

"What Is It Tavros?"

"aRE THERE ANY PANTS?"

"No, I Must Have Forgotten To Make Pants."

A few trolls giggled and snorted. Tavros tried to pretend he didn't care, but it didn't stop Vriska from making jokes about it.

"Since The Others Left Can Somebody Give These To Them Later? I Am Worried That They Will Not Receive Them." She held up a box filled with more outfits.

"1'LL DO 1T, DON'T WORRY K4N4Y4." Terezi took the box from Kanaya's hands, and Kanaya smiled in relief.

"And Karkat? I Do Have Something For You As Well."

"I'M FINE, I REALLY DON'T NEED ANY FUCKING CLOTHES."

Kanaya ignored him. "I Did Not Know What Profession You Were Looking To Go Into, Considering You Don't Tell Anybody Your Blood, But Terezi Told Me What Would Be Appropriate For You." She handed Karkat a box. "Do Not Open It Yet, Though. Terezi Said She Wanted You To Follow The Plan First."

"WHAT PLAN?"

"The Plan To Get You On The Ship? Did You Not Know About It?"

"I WAS PLANNING ON GOING ON JUST LIKE THIS." Karkat kept his arm over his eyes.

"YOU C4N'T GO ON TH3 SH1P H1D1NG YOUR BLOOD, TH3Y'LL TH1NK YOU'R3 4 R3B3L AND CULL YOU ON TH3 SPOT. BUT TH3Y'D CULL YOU 4NYW4Y, R1GHT K4RKL3S?"

"WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Karkat almost looked at the group, but remembered to hide his eyes and turned away again.

"YOU C4N STOP H1D1NG YOUR 3Y3S FROM M3, 1 4LR34DY KNOW WH4T YOUR COLOR 1S, H3H3."

Karkat froze solid.

"YOU WHAT?"

Karkat flipped shit.

"?"


	8. Follow the Plan

A few sweeps before this, Karkat got a terrible flu. He messaged all his friends complaining about it, and soon after that Terezi showed up in his hive. This extracted some profanities from Karkat, and some giggles from Terezi. However, after a while Karkat got delirious from flu, so Terezi and Crabdad tried to do as much as they could to get him into his recoopracoon.

After about an hour of loopy Karkat to deal with, Crabdad got annoyed and scuttled away from the scene. Terezi knew that she had to stay behind and help, or else he wouldn't get any better. During this, Karkat fell on the ground and scraped his knee. Terezi was surprised, but then it all made sense to her. This was why he never told anybody his color and wrote in gray. Terezi then covered up the scrape and shoved him into the recoopracoon until he slept.

To avoid panic and shit flying off the handle from Karkat, Terezi never told him she knew his blood. When he woke up and asked why his leg was scraped, Terezi simply said that she left before any of that even happened.

After Terezi explained all of this, Karkat looked at her with an expression of anger and utter confusion. His eyes were completely red.

"1 TOLD TH3S3 GUYS 4BOUT 1T B3FOR3 YOU C4M3."

"HOLD ON, YOU'VE BEEN FUCKING LYING TO ME THIS WHOLE TIME? YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS FOR ALL THESE SWEEPS WITHOUT TELLING ME?"

Then, there was a period where all of his friends started gawking at his bright red eyes, a horrible mutation for a troll. However, not counting Vriska's backhanded comments about how his eyes made him look like he had a "horri8le disease", everyone was surprisingly accepting about it. There wasn't any expected screaming, punching, shunning, or anything else Karkat expected.

"ALRIGHT, IS THIS THE PART OF THE EVENING WHERE I BECOME YOUR PERSONAL EXIBIT FOR YOUR CURIOSITY? BECAUSE IF IT IS, I'M LEAVING."

"But What About The Ship?"

"I CAN'T GET ON THE FUCKING SHIP WITHOUT DYING ANYWAY."

"that'2 what we were tryiing two fiigure out."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"  
>"we wanted to figure out how to get you on the ship without dying," explained Aradia.<p>

"i don't know what we'd do without karkitty!"

"NO, I THINK I'LL JUST TAKE MY CHANCES IN THE WILD, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. GOODBYE, KEEP IN TOUCH AND ALL THAT SHIT."

"but we came up with the purrfect plan!"

"It Is Pretty Foolproof."

"YEAH, OF COURSE I'M GOING TO TAKE YOUR ADVICE. BECAUSE ALL OF YOU OBVIOUSLY GREW UP HAVING TO HIDE YOUR BLOOD COLOR. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING, I SURE FEEL SAFE KNOWING YOU ALL PLANNED THIS OUT."

"Wow, Karkat, how unthankful can you 8e?"

"VR1SK4, YOU D1DN'T 3V3N H3LP."

"Yes I did! I totally did!"

"WH4T D1D YOU DO, TH3N?"

"Well, I thought of the part where Terezi clim8s through the window."

"that wa2 my iidea."

"8ut I thought of it 8efore you said it."

"liike you can prove that."

"Are you dou8ting me?"

"wa2 ii not makiing iit clear enough?"

"ARE YOU GUYS DONE FIGHTING?"

"Y34H, W3 N33D TO G3T TH1S PL4N 1N MOT1ON."

"I'M NOT FOLLOWING YOUR STUPID ASS PLAN, TEREZI."

"TH4T HURTS MY F33L1NGS, K4RKL3S."

"c'mon, karkitty!"

"try iit, kk."  
>"SERIOUSLY, HOW MANY FUCKING NICKNAMES DO I HAVE TO DON ON A REGULAR BASIS?"<p>

"May8e if your name wasn't so easy to make fun of, you wouldn't have so many dum8 other names."

Aradia tried to get everyone back on track. "so are you going to take our advice?"

"OF COURSE NOT. THAT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS."

"what will it take to convince you to come with us?"

"NOTHING I CAN THINK OF, REALLY."

"kARKAT, cOME OVER HERE FOR A MINUTE," Tavros had positioned himself a little ways away from the group, and Karkat walked over to him.

"WHAT?"

"i, uHH, tHINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO THEM, yOU DON'T REALLY HAVE THAT MUCH OF A CHOICE ANYWAY,"

"I DO HAVE A CHOICE. IT'S STAYING HERE AND DOING NOTHING ELSE."

"bUT WE'RE GOING TO MISS YOU,"

"YEAH, SO?"

"kARKAT, i DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE SO AGAINST THIS, tHEY'RE TRYING TO HELP YOU,,,eVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, yOU HAVE TO MOVE ON SOMETIME,"

"YEAH, AND THEN AFTER I GET OFF, WHAT HAPPENS? I'M GOING TO HAVE TO HIDE MYSELF WHEREVER I GO, MIGHT AS WELL SKIP THE UNPLEASANT SHIP RIDE."

",,,"

",,,oKAY, kARKAT, i SEE,"

"SEE WHAT?"

"fINE, dO WHAT YOU WANT, i'LL JUST GO WORRY ABOUT MY OWN PROBLEMS, nO USE TRYING TO HELP A TROLL THAT WON'T TAKE IT,"

"FINALLY, YOU SEE HOW I FEEL."

Tavros was enraged.

"lOOK, yOUR FRIENDS CARE ABOUT YOU, aND YOU'RE BEING REALLY RUDE BY NOT DOING ANYTHING, aND, uHH, iT'S REALLY MAKING ME MAD, wE'VE BEEN TALKING TO EACH OTHER FOR A WHILE NOW, aND YOU STILL DON'T TRUST ME OR ANYBODY ELSE,"

"ALRIGHT, FINE. IF IT MEANS THAT FUCKING MUCH TO YOU THAT I GO THROUGH EIGHT LAYERS OF MY OWN PERSONAL HELL, THEN I'LL GET ON THE FUCKING SHIP." Karkat walked back over to the group. "SO WHAT HUMILIATING BULLSHIT AM I GOING TO HAVE TO PULL TO GET ON THE SHIP?"

"1'M GL4D YOU 4SK3D,"

Terezi thrust some of her old clothes onto Karkat. They didn't look too girly, most girl trolls thought that fashion was stupid.

"F1RST GO PUT THOS3 ON."


	9. Identity Theft

The ships were massive. There were only three ships, but at least three hundred trolls could fit on a single ship easily. They all had the Condesce's symbol on every nook and cranny, just to remind everyone that she is watching. What a load of bull.

There were a few ships to choose from, but everyone planned on getting on the same ship. Of course, they were going to avoid the highblood ship because of Equius, Eridan, and Feferi. Those three would just ruin the whole ride there. It was sad they couldn't ride the same ship with Gamzee. No matter how motherfucking weird he is, he knew how to have a good time. Of course, the ships weren't labeled as high or low bloods, except for the ship exclusively for seadwellers. There were simply cliques that the trolls put themselves into, and those cliques went to the same ships.

Everyone waved a somber goodbye to Kanaya, and promised to keep in touch with her. Kanaya knew that most of them wouldn't keep in touch, for that is how friends drift apart. But for now, she was going to stay under the impression that all of them would always be friends.

Karkat had been forced to wear some of Terezi's clothes, as well as some red glasses that she had found while FLARPing. Karkat, Vriska, Nepeta, Sollux, and Tavros walked (and wheeled) to the ship they wanted to ride. As part of the plan, Terezi wouldn't get on the same ship as everybody else.

While each troll approached the ship, an adult troll was there to ask their name and blood.

"aradia medigo, maroon."

"nepeta lejion, olive"

"2ollux captor, yellow"

"Vriska Serket, cerulean"

Then, Karkat walked up to them.

"TEREZI PYROPE, TEAL." The guard looked at him with a puzzled face.

"That's a girl's name."

"MY LUSUS WAS AN IDIOT."

"What's with the glasses?"

"I'M BLIND."

"I should have you culled for that disability."

"I CAN SMELL AND TASTE COLORS, SO I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING."

The guard sighed. "Go on in, and try not to bump into anything."

"THANKS."

The guard looked at Tavros, the last to get on the ship. "I should have you culled too."

"bUT,,,uMM,,,"

"Come with me." The guard wheeled Tavros away.

"T4VROS!"

"dON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, i'LL FIND A WAY ON LATER."

But Vriska intervened.

"Hey, guard." The green-blooded guard shivered in the presence of the cerulean. "I need a cripple like him on my ship. You know, after all of this shipping off 8usiness. They make good meat shields, cripples do."

"A pirate? You?"

"Have a pro8lem with that?"

"No. No, he can go through."

They walked a little farther away from the guard.

"mEAT SHIELD?"

"You should 8e honored."

The ship wasn't exactly the most luxurious it could have been. Even inside the ship the Condesce's symbol was plastered everywhere. The ceilings were very low, and the walls were sort of lopsided, as if they weren't built properly. Everywhere they stepped they could hear the hum and sparks of the main power source, some sort of Helmsman. The trolls walked through the tiny hallways, filled with tiny respiteblocks, with at least eight trolls in every respiteblock. The recoopracoons had just enough slime to promote sleep, but not much else. There was more room outside the hallways and on the common areas of the ship, where most trolls were gathered. This ship had more middle or lowerbloods on it, but there were some bluebloods scattered about as well.

The first thing the group had to do was find a respiteblock to stay for the whole week. It took them a lot of hallway searching to find one that didn't have other trolls in it. The group had to stick together, after all. After the fourth or fifth hallway they went through, they finally found an open respiteblock. There were eight recoopracoons in this one, which had one extra recoopracoon than they needed. There was a nice big window, which was why they had taken this respiteblock in the first place.

Part of the plan was Terezi going on another ship as herself, and then Tavros communicating with her lusus to fly over to this ship. The guards didn't speak with each other between ships, and one ship wasn't going to freak out over one tealblood lost. They would probably think that Terezi had died or something. No big deal, she was only a tealblood.

A couple of minutes later, just as planned, the group found the real Terezi at the window. Nepeta opened it up, and Terezi climbed inside. Her lusus flew away.

"TH3 GOOD TH1NG 4BOUT MY H1M 1S TH4T H3 C4N JUST FLY B4CK TO M3 L4T3R. 1T'S L1K3 H3'S NOT 3V3N L34V1NG."

Terezi's lusus had hatched when she was six, and definitely did not die right after its birth from a meteor storm. Seriously, why would there be a meteor storm in Alternia? Why would someone even think of that? Weird.

However, Terezi's talk of her lusus made everyone lament on theirs.

"i wonder what will happen to pounce de leon…"

"i MEAN,,,tINKERBULL WAS ALREADY DEAD,,,"

"Spidermom was a 8itch anyway."

"OH FUCK I FORGOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO THAT INSUFFERABLE LUSUS."

"eh, not gonna mii22 biiclop2. yet."

Oops, that was a sensitive spot. Terezi now had a room full of trolls complaining about never seeing their lusus again. Their whole life, a custodian acted as their companion and caretaker. Terezi felt pity for them, even if she would always have her lusus. Trolls never really pitied other trolls, but Terezi didn't have her lusus born until she was six, and she knew what life was like without one. Nope, her lusus definitely did not die right after its birth from a meteor storm. Seriously, why would there be a meteor storm in Alternia? Why would someone even think of that? Anyway, there was no possible way for them to get all her friends to calm down at this point.

Except for that repetitive knocking at the door.


	10. The Highlight of the Night

"WHAT? NOBODY'S GOING TO FUCKING ANSWER THE DOOR? I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO DO IT, NOOKSTAINS." Karkat walked over to the door and swung it open.

The troll that stood before them was their lovable high idiot.

"iS tHeRe AnY mOtHeRfUcKiNg RoOm HeRe?"

"gAMZEE?"

"did they not take you away to the other ship?"

"wElL fOr SoMe MoThErFuCkInG rEaSoN, wHeN i SaId ThAt I wAnTeD tO bE oN tHiS sHiP tHeY gOt AlL sCaReD aNd PuT mE oN tHiS oNe. ThEy WaNtEd To PuT mE wItH sOmE sTuCk Up TrOlLs, So I'm So GlAd To Be HeRe, BrOs."

"That so figures. They're not going to say no to somebody with indigo8lood."

"you can curl up here, gamzee, we've got purrenty of room!"

"MORE LIKE ONE EXTRA RECOOPRACOON. I WOULDN'T CALL THAT A LOT OF ROOM."

"SUCH 4 DOWN3R."

"wElL tHaNkS bRoS, i WaSn'T lOoKiNg FoRwArD tO bOaRdInG wItH a BuNcH oF sTrAnGeRs."

Gamzee had just noticed Karkat right in front of him, who was a head shorter than Gamzee. Then, he saw Tavros in his four wheeled device, sitting next to Aradia and Sollux.

"tHaT's WhErE yOu TwO wEnT, i WaS sO mOtHeRfUcKiNg DisSaPpOiNtEd WhEn I dIdN't sEe YoU tWo."

"wE CAME RIGHT AFTER YOU LEFT, i MEAN, tHAT'S WHAT ARADIA SAID,"

"wHaT tOoK yOu So LoNg?"

"H3H3, 1T W4S 4LL K4RKL3S'S F4ULT."

"NO IT WASN'T."

"iT KIND OF, uHH, wAS,"

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO COULDN'T WHEEL HIMSELF TO THE PORT."

"aND YOU WERE THE ONE, tHAT, wELL, cOULDN'T PART FROM HIS LUSUS,"

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY."

"iT WAS PRETTY FUNNY,"

"mAn, I wIsH i WaS tHeRe, SoUnDs LiKe A mIrAcLe."

"REALLY? ME BEING SCARED OUT OF MY FUCKING MIND IS A MIRACLE?"

"man kk, you 2houldn't take that two per2onally."

The next half an hour was spent with everybody catching up with current events. Most of them had never seen each other, and some had trouble remembering who was who.

"sO nEpEtA," Gamzee started, looking at Aradia.

"no, i'm aradia."

"oH, yEaH. sOrRy, SiS."

The respiteblock was quite crowded, and Tavros's wheelchair didn't help at all. Trolls kept bumping into it, knocking Tavros over and causing a bit of panic around the room.

A little while later, Nepeta got an idea.

"hey, vriskers," she whispered, "i bet if we can convince gamzee to help us, equius wouldn't pawsibly say no!"

"Can we not talk a8out this here?"

"hehe, what kind of reputation are you trying to paw, anyway?"

"None of your 8usiness, Nepeta!"

"hehe, you just look really silly when you do stuff like this!"

"what'2 up wiith you two?" asked Sollux, placing himself between the two trolls.

"C'mon Sollux, get out of the way. You're so rude!"

"tho2e word2 2ound 2o hollow comiing from you. try and follow what you preach."

"Are you trying to make people 8elieve I'm rude?"

"no, ii'm poiintiing iit out."

"hey, you two," said Aradia, "we can't get into fights this week. we should stick together."

"Y34H VR1SK4, NO F1GHT1NG. R1GHT?"

"It's funny how you only directed that statement at me, Terezi."

"OOPS, 4ND TH3 S4M3 TO 3V3RYON3 3LS3. MY B4D."

"no fighting with vriskers, terezi!"

"we've all got to stick together," said Aradia. "it's no use if we separate."

"c'mon aa, we're not goiing two driift apart on the 2hiip, iit'2 an enclo2ed 2pace."

"no, i meant in spirit."

Gamzee looked around the room again.

"wAsN't KaNaYa WiTh YoU aLl?"

"sHE'S A JADEBLOOD, rEMEMBER?"

"oH yEaH, i FoRgOt."

"OH Y34H, B3FOR3 1 FORG3T…" Terezi reached for the box Kanaya wanted her to deliver, "G4MZ33, TH1S 1S FROM K4N4Y4. TH3R3'S THR33 1N TH3R3 FOR 3QU1US, 3R1D4N, 4ND F3F3R1. BUT TH4T ON3'S YOURS."

"mAn, ShE's AlWaYs LoOkInG oUt FoR uS."

Nobody had time to try on their presents from Kanaya, because a shrill bell rang. All of the ship's lights automatically turned off, and it was time for them to go to sleep. Because of the complete darkness, everybody kept stumbling over each other.

"G4MZ33, TH4T'S MY FOOT!"

"2hiit, where diid my gla22e2 go?"

"why do you need your glasses when you sleep?"

"cAN SOMEONE HELP ME INTO THE RECOOPRACOON?"

"Help yourself, Toreadork."

"i'll help you, tavros! i'll pounce over there in a second!"

"hOnK hOnK, bRoS."

Then, by some mIrAcLe, everyone settled down. And they went to sleep, knowing that there would be a week of ship shenanigans ahead of them.


	11. Marks, Pants, and a Warning

There was no alarm for the trolls to wake up, so they all were allowed to sleep in. After a certain time, they could manually turn on the lights. The windows to outside showed scenes of stars and emptiness, but they could see the ship moving as they went along.

For the most part, everybody stayed inside the respiteblock, fighting off homesickness. They passed time by huddling around Sollux's computer, "okay, 2o you're telliing me ii wa2 the only one who brought one?", telling stories about their lususus, "pounce de leon taught me how to hunt food!", engaging in harmless roleplay, "I HOPE ALL OF YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS STUPID AND I'M NOT PLAYING", and chatting about their life stories. During the first night, Vriska spent most of her time in the corner. Every once in a while, Nepeta would go check on her, but she wouldn't come out of the corner.

They also passed time by playing with some starter packs of Fiduspawn, which Tavros had brought. Unsurprisingly, almost everybody beat Tavros when they fought, considering that he was more of a breeder than a fighter. After some double battles, everybody but Tavros and Nepeta got bored of Fiduspawn.

A little while after they all woke up, some guards came to their room. One of them was the same guard that had screened them before they walked in. Terezi hid behind one of the recoopracoons so she wouldn't blow Karkat's cover, who was still dressed as her. The guard that had seen them pointed to Karkat, Tavros, and Vriska, and the other guard asked for their hands.

"What are you going to do?"

"We do this to a lot of trolls. It's nothing."

The second guard took out some ink and drew the Condesce's symbol on their hands. Tavros and Karkat received black symbols, while Vriska got a bright red one.

"wHAT IS THIS FOR?"

"Nothing. We're just keeping track of some of you."

The two of them promptly left, confusing some and worrying others.

"ju2t rub iit off or 2omethiing."

"I CAN'T. IT WON'T COME OFF."

"don't worry about iit, then."

Everybody also tried on their presents from Kanaya. Kanaya was a master seamstress, so everything fit perfectly. Aradia and Nepeta were the most excited to wear theirs, and they were literally bouncing up and down in excitement.

Gamzee's outfit was some sort of fancy indigo jacket, shirt, and pants. It was a bit too fashionable for Gamzee, but he seemed to enjoy it.

"sHe WaS hApPy To MaKe It, So I dOn'T cArE iF iT's OvEr ThE tOp."

Karkat, who was tired of wearing girls' clothing, took out his present from the box.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?"

Kanaya had obviously played a prank on Karkat. The outfit he received was a pair of strange pants or leggings that went up all the way to his chest. There were multiple giggles and laughs from the group.

"WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THIS? THIS ISN'T EVEN SOMETHING I CAN USE ON A DAILY BASIS! SHE DIDN'T EVEN PUT MY FUCKING SIGN ON IT!"

"K4RKL3S, SH3 D1D TH4T ON PURPOS3!"

"FOR WHAT REASON WOULD SHE DO THAT? IT SERVES NO FUNCTIONAL PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO ANNOY THE SHIT OUT OF ME."

"hey, why not talk two kanaya? ii've got my computer."

"great! we can thank her for these purresents!"

- twimArmageddons [TA] started trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA] -

TA: 2up.

GA: Sollux What A Pleasure

GA: Are You All Quite Safe

TA: yeah, we're all 2afe and whatever.

GA: How Did Everybody Like Their Presents

GA: Did Everything Fit Well

TA: pretty much everyone except kk liiked them.

TA: but he would've biitched no matter what you would giive him, 2o iit'2 fiine.

GA: Did He Believe That It Was A Prank

TA: pretty much yeah

GA: It Was A Sincere Gesture Though

GA: Terezi Gave Me The Idea

TA: that'2 where you went wrong, ii thiink.

TA: 2he probably wanted two annoy kk.

TA: hold on there'2 a biit of a huge dii2tractiion here

Everybody had been reading Sollux's screen as he wrote.

"TEREZI, THIS WAS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT?"

"H3H3, C'MON, GO W34R 1T, 1 D4R3 YOU!"

"2hut up, ii'm tryiing two type!"

GA: So How Long Will It Take For You To Arrive

TA: ii heard iit wa2 a week.

GA: Goodness

GA: That Is Long

GA: How Far Away Is It

TA: not that far away, but there'2 2o many troll2 on the 2hiip iit can't move very fa2t.

"HAVE HER EXPLAIN WHY I LOOK LIKE SUCH A TOOL IN THIS THING."

"YOU 4LW4YS LOOK L1K3 4 TOOL ."

GA: Well Have A Nice Trip

TA: what, are you leaviing?

GA: I Have To Go Underground Now

GA: I Will Contact All Of You Later

- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased trolling twimArmageddons [TA] -

"DID SHE SAY ANYTHING?"

"ju2t a2k tz later."

"okay, it's really crowded in here," said Aradia, tripping over Nepeta's leg for the third time, "why don't we go exploring for a while?

They wandered through the hallways and the common areas, but nobody was there. Every other troll on the ship was probably still homesick.

"i wonder where everybody went," said Aradia.

"purrhaps they are just taking a little catnap?"

A yellow-blooded troll ran past them, and then stopped. He did a double take at Sollux. "Are you insane? Get back inside the respiteblock!" Then, he kept running until he arrived at his respiteblock. The other trolls just stared, wondering why the troll was so scared.

"wHaT tHe FuCk WaS aLl ThAt AbOuT?"

"he'2 iin2ane. just keep walkiing."


	12. Batteries Not Included

As the group walked aimlessly through the hallways the second day, they noticed that more trolls were appearing.

They had met a lot of trolls that were complete assholes, so they tried not to talk to strangers. There weren't any other trolls on the ship they knew, because Eridan, Feferi, and Equius hadn't ridden the same ship.

One troll that did bother to speak nice to them looked at Vriska's hand, then Tavros's, then Karkat's.

"Oh, that's too bad," she said.

"What?"

"…Nothing, I really shouldn't tell you. You would only have a panic attack." The girl looked around, and then ran away from the three of them, as if they had the plague.

"WHAT WAS HER DEAL?"

"i HAVE A FEELING, tHAT WE SHOULD TRY AND, uHH, gET THE INK OFF SOMETIME,"

"I'm just confused that I was grouped with you losers."

"SHUT UP, VRISKA."

They visited the very top floor of the ship, which had a glass observatory that created the illusion they were standing in space.

"mAn, SpAcE iS fUlL oF mIrAcLeS, iSn'T iT?"

"GAMZEE, DON'T EVEN FUCKING START."

"I just know that when I 8ecome a pirate, my ship will be the largest you'll ever see."

"GOOD LUCK W1TH TH4T, TH3R3 4R3 SOM3 PR3TTY B1G SH1PS. HOP3 TH3Y DON'T RUN YOU OV3R."

"be nice to vriskers, terezi! remempurr, we're sticking together."

"Yeah, 8e nice."

Everybody walked back down to the hallways, and started wandering again. There wasn't really anything to do, and they had exhausted all of their time passing activities.

After some wandering, though, the whole ride turned sour.

The ship shook, and stopped moving. There was some incomprehensible gibberish flowing from the intercom, and some trolls around the group went inside their respiteblock. If they had understood the announcement, it wasn't good.

"wHAT HAPPENED?"

"tHe ShIp StOpPeD mOvInG."

"D1D 1T BR34K DOWN?"

"maybe we should head back to our respiteblock, like the other trolls!"

They all took Aradia's advice, and started running back to the respiteblock. The ship had stopped its motonous humming, screams filled the hallway behind them. The group turned their heads around to see what was the matter.

A guard stormed through the hallway, carrying a troll in his arms. He was looking around, and then fixed his green eyes on the small group of trolls. He threw the troll on the ground, and the trolls could tell he was a Helmsman. A dead, worn out Helmsman. Aradia screamed, and then fainted onto the floor. Terezi scurried to pick her up, Vriska started hypervental8ing, and Karkat shouted some profanities. Sollux just stared at the dead Helmsman, wondering how long he was powering ships before he died. The guard looked at Sollux intently, and then grabbed him by the arm.

"what the fuck are you doiing?" Sollux stuttered.

"We need a new battery, and that one," he pointed to the dead Helmsman, "He was the last one we had." The guard started dragging Sollux off, but Karkat and Nepeta tried to drag Sollux back. Sollux also emitted red and blue static from his eyes.

"I can have all three of you culled if you don't stop!"

The three of them stopped immediately. Sollux shook his head at his friends.

"ii'll bee fine. don't get culled."

The guard turned to Vriska. "Throw that scum out the window, will you?" Vriska sneered, but she did it nonetheless.

The guard dragged Sollux away. Aside from some useless kicking, Sollux didn't struggle much. He hated having to give up, but he couldn't do anything else.

Sollux was lugged all the way over to the main power source.

"why do ii have two do thii2?"

"Kid, you're going to have to be a Helmsman sooner or later. Why not start now?"

Sollux looked at the guard with a discontented face.

"Besides, we can't move on without you. Do you really want us to die out here because of you?"

"want me two an2wer that que2tiion honestly?"

"Just go make yourself useful."

He led Sollux to the massive battery holder. Sollux was strapped in, and seemed so tiny compared to the holder. He thought of other psychics that had to do this, and wondered how bad it really was. Sure, it killed trolls like him, but he was more powerful than those wimps. He could last enough to get off the ship, he thought. But on the other hand, this was how his kind died. He didn't want to find out how long it took them to break down, and he sure didn't want to end up like the Helmsman in the hallway.

"Ready?"

"nope."

The guard turned the ship on and ordered the captain to steer the ship.


	13. Nightmares

"yOu TwO dO kNoW tHaT eQuIuS iS oN tHiS mOtHeRfUcKiNg ShIp, RiGhT?"

"what?"

"What?"

It was the second night, and Vriska and Nepeta were trying to convince Gamzee to get on board with their idea. Everybody else was still asleep, so the three of them had time to talk about this…ambitious plan. Vriska had been tentative to talk about it in front of the other trolls, so it was a relief they had gotten this time alone with Gamzee. Vriska and Nepeta were sure that Equius would get on board if Gamzee was enthusiastic about it too.

"i'm in t00." Said…Aradia?

Aradia, since the incident with Sollux, had a certain h0ll0wness to her voice. The dead Helmsman coupled with the news of Sollux powering the ship had put her over the edge. Before she fell asleep again, she spent a great deal of time looking out the window, just simply watching the space pass by. For her sake, everybody swore not to talk about Sollux until they saw him again, _alive. _She was sleeping practically all night after passing out, so she had woken up earlier, although no one had noticed.

"You heard the whole plan?"

"i didn't kn0w y0u were the 0ne resp0nsible, vriska."

"Oh…..yeah."

"but vriskers feels bad about it now! and she's gonna help fix it!"

"that is what i heard…and that's 0kay, i guess. if y0u're willing t0 fix it. is there any way i can help?"

The four of them thought about it.

"Yeah, if you asked Equius a8out it too, then he would never say no!"

"why is that?"

"Uh…..If I told you that he had the 8iggest flushcrush on you, would you 8e freaked out?"

0_0

"aradia? are you okay?"

"i ThInK yOu FrEaKeD tHe ShIt OuTtA hEr, SiS."

"I mean, I would 8e freaked out if that sweat8all was flushing on me too."

"what if somebody else was flushing for you, vriskers?"

Vriska laughed. "No8ody would, and you know it!" Nepeta giggled, as if she knew something Vriska didn't. "Ha, you think someone would 8e flushing for me? Is that what you think? Well, what an a8surd idea. It's never going to happen."

More giggling.

"Alright, let's just get Aradia snapped out of this weird coma."

Nepeta shook Aradia back into shape, and she agreed to help.

"i'll g0 talk to equius, if that w0uld help. where is he?"

"sIs, We CaN jUsT gO tOgEtHeR, cAuSe I gOtTa TaLk To HiM tOo. LeT's Go." The two of them left for Equius's respiteblock, and when the door closed shut, Karkat woke up.

"FUCK!"

"What's wrong this time?"

"…NOTHING. JUST A BAD DREAM."

"about what?"

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT."

"C'moooooooon, Karkat! You've got me curious now!"

"NO. END OF DISCUSSION." Vriska shrugged, and went over to Terezi's recoopracoon.

"Terezi! Terezi, wake up! Karkat's not telling us something!"

Terezi instantly woke up, as if she was trained to do so, picked up her canesword, and stormed over to Karkat's spot, even though she was still covered in her recoopracoon's sopor slime.

"T3LL M3, OR 3LS3 1'M US1NG TH3 C4N3 ON MOR3 TH4N YOUR H34D."

Karkat's eyes widened, but then he considered taking the cane abuse. He did not want to talk about the dream. Terezi, noticing this, sat herself next to him and brought the cane dangerously close to, er, a place where a cane should never go. She was serious.

"C'MON. T3LL US."

"FINE, I SEE HOW IT IS. DON'T EVEN TRY AND THINK ABOUT THE SCARY FLASHBACKS I MIGHT HAVE WHILE TELLING YOU ABOUT IT."

"Stop 8eing such a 8aby, Karkat, and tell us!"

"NO."

Everybody stared at Karkat for about ten minutes, silent. They were not going to back down, and Terezi was still holding her cane. There wasn't any other choice for him.

"SO IN MY DREAM, I STARTED SEEING EVERYTHING TERRIBLE THAT HAD EVER HAPPENED TO EVERYTHING, AND EVERYTHING TERRIBLE THAT MIGHT EVER HAPPEN TO EVERYONE. I COULDN'T DO A FUCKING THING BUT STAND THERE. THERE, ARE YOU HAPPY? YOU HAVE NOW PRYED INTO THE DEEPEST FOLDS OF MY DISTURBED SUBCONSIOUS, YOU'RE WELCOME."

"what kind of things did you see?"

"WELL, LOOK WHO WANTS TO MAKE THE DREAM EVEN CLEARER AND HORIFFIC."

"you might feel better if you tell us your feelings, karkitty."

"NO, IT WILL ONLY ECHO THE HORRORS THROUGH MY HOLLOW ASS THINK PAN."

"1T COULDN'T H4V3 B33N TH4T B4D."

"YES, IT WAS. IT WAS LIKE MY ALL OF MY WRIGGLING DAYS, EXCEPT I WAS SEEING MY MISTAKES AFFECT EVERYBODY ELSE I KNEW. DO YOU REALLY WANT ME TO ELABORATE ON SOMETHING AS PAINFUL AND STUPID AS THAT?"

Terezi sighed. "F1N3. 1F YOU W3R3 TH4T SC4R3D, DON'T T3LL US."

"WELL, LOOK WHO LEARNED SOME MANNERS."

Everybody was silent for a few minutes, until Vriska asked about the dream again.

"It was a8out Sollux, wasn't it?"

"vriskers! we purromised not to talk about him until we see him again, alive!"

"He's pro8a8ly going to die anyway, Nepeta. We should just accept it and-"

SL4P.


	14. Trolling twinArmegeddons EDITED

Gamzee and Aradia strolled back to their respiteblock, confident that they had swayed Equius to their wishes. Gamzee was dancing and honking all the way back, laughing and elbowing Aradia at the same time. Aradia tried to muster a small smile in gratitude, but it instantly turned back into a gloomy frown. No matter what they had done right, there wasn't much she could do anymore. All she could do was sit and wait now.

Gamzee looked back down at Aradia, walked in front of her, and blocked her path.

"sIs, YoU gOtTa LeArN hOw To EnJoY yOuRsElF iN bAd TiMeS."

"i kn0w…"

Gamzee sighed. "i'M aLl Up AnD wOrRiEd BoUt HiM tOo, BuT hE wOuLdN't WaNt YoU mOpInG sO mUcH. gO wItH tHe FlOw, YoU kNoW?"

"n0, n0t really."

"yOu CaN dO iT, sIs!"

"please, i d0n't really want t0 talk ab0ut it…" Aradia looked down at her feet.

Gamzee looked away for a second. "eVeRyBoDy ElSe WaNtEd To AlL kEeP tHe SuBjEcT mOtHeRfUcKiNg ShUsHeD."

"they're just being nice, i think."

"bUt ReAlLy, If YoU kEeP yOuR fEeLiNgS aLl BoTtLeD uP, tHeY'rE gOnNa BuRsT sOmEtImE sOoN."

Aradia looked Gamzee straight in the eyes. "gamzee, really. i d0n't want t0 talk ab0ut it."

"…aLrIgHt. It'S jUsT tHaT i DiDn'T wAnT yOu To Be AlL tEnSe FoR nOtHiNg. I kNoW i DoN't LiKe To Be AlL mOtHeRfUcKiNg LiEd To."

"…they're lying t0 me?"

"kEePiNg QuIeT iS aLmOsT aS BaD aS lYiNg, SiS."

Gamzee just stared blankly at Aradia for a few moments, waiting for an answer.

"hOnK."

Aradia sneered. "c'm0n. let's g0."

Gamzee didn't act as cheery for the rest of the way there, as if infected by Aradia's melancholy.

When they arrived at the respiteblock, they were greeted by a confusing scene. The room had overturned recoopracoons and chairs, and there were Fiduspawn cards and personal belongings all over the floor. Terezi and Vriska were engaged in a bloody battle, screaming at each other the whole time. Nepeta was hastily drawing something on the wall behind her recoopracoon, and at the same time attempting to hide it. Karkat was screaming some profanities at Nepeta, and Tavros had fallen down from his four wheeled device onto the floor. Gamzee and Aradia simply stared at this scene in awe and confusion, wondering what must have happened while they were gone. Nepeta turned, and spotted Gamzee and Aradia at the door.

"oh no, this was the worst pawsible time fur you two to come in!"

"what happened?"

"VR1SK4 W4S B31NG 4 HUG3 B1TCH, 1T W4SN'T MY F4ULT!"

"You're the one that slapped me in the first place!"

"WOULD THE TWO OF YOU STOP HATEFLIRTING FOR JUST FIVE MINUTES?"

"Karkat, it's not like that at all!"

"you say that, but you two would make the purrfect blackrom couple!"

"nOT TO INTERRUPT ON PURPOSE, bUT, i AM STILL ON THE FLOOR,,,"

Gamzee walked over to Tavros, and lifted his chair up to the correct position. Nepeta turned back to her newly created shipping wall, and Terezi and Vriska ceased fighting for the time being. The others tried to return the room to a more normal state, working in complete silence. Suddenly, Sollux's computer was made the familiar dinging noise Trollian produced when somebody was being trolled. Karkat tentatively stepped over to the husktop, and read the trolltag that was attempting to connect to them. To his surprise, there was no trolltag, just a block of unreadable text and numbers across the screen.

- kle/00110011/d?## [BR] began trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] -

- ... .. .. ..- / .. .. ..- / ..- - .-.. .-.. ..- -..- -..- / ... . .-.. .-. .-.-.-

TA: OKAY, DIPSHIT, IF YOU'RE TRYING TO TROLL SOLLUX HE ISN'T HERE RIGHT NOW. GO AWAY, ASSHOLE.

..- ... .. .. -

-.- -.- / .. .. - .-. ..- / - .

TA: FUCK OFF.

.- ..- ..- - / -.. - -. .-. - / -... .-.. - -.-. -.- / - . -..- / .. .. / -.-. .- -. / ..-. .. .. -. ..- .-. . / - ... .. .. ..- / - ..- -

Karkat blocked the strange messenger.

"wh0 was it?"

"IF I HAD A FUCKING CLUE, I WOULD TELL YOU."

"c0uld it have been kanaya playing a prank?"

"I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SEE THE TROLLTAG."

Another beep from the computer. Another message.

- cuttelfishCuller [CC] began trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] -

CC: Sollux, did you and everybody else get on the s)(ip alright?

TA: SOLLUX ISN'T HERE.

CC: O)(, )(i Karkat!

CC: W)(ere is Sollux? I tried speaking wit)( everybody else on your s)(ip, but nobody answered!

TA: WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN TALKING TO ANYBODY BUT ERIDAN AND GAMZEE? THAT'S AN EVEN BETTER QUESTION.

CC: Uh.

CC: Sorry, wait, I can't talk rig)(t now!

TA: FEFERI, WAIT A MINUTE.

- cuttelfishCuller [CC] ceased trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] -

A third beep from the husktop. It was the same morse code writing troll from the first conversation.

Karkat just closed the husktop.

It couldn't have been that important.

* * *

><p>-EDIT-<p>

Okay, I've noticed some problems with the morse code, and how it's impossible to read. The problem, I found, lies within the programming of . Whenever I typed two dashes, they would change it to a single dash. In a perfect world, I would have been able to figure out how to keep this mysterious and whatever and have every reader go to the translator theirselves, but I couldn't find a way to keep the morse code correct and ready to be copy/pasted into the translator. Believe me, I tried. So, for everyone's viewing pleasure, here is the translated scene between Karkat and the morse code. Everything between the brackets is the translated morse code.

- kle/00110011/d?## [BR] began trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] -

[THII2 II2 2OLLUX, HELP.]

TA: OKAY, DIPSHIT, IF YOU'RE TRYING TO TROLL SOLLUX HE ISN'T HERE RIGHT NOW. GO AWAY, ASSHOLE.

[2HIIT, GOTTA TRY AGAIIN.

MAYBE A DIIFFERENT COMBINATION.]

TA: FUCK OFF.

[KK, JU2T DON'T BLOCK ME. II'LL GET IIT FIIGURED OUT.]


	15. Chocolate Rain

"Damn!"

"again?"

"n0, wr0ng c0mbinati0n?"

Karkat awoke to Vriska, Nepeta, and Aradia rolling dice over and over again. They looked exhausted, as if they had been doing it for hours. It seemed like they were getting fairly high numbers, but none of them seemed happy with the results.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU-"

"Aw, snake eyes!"

"SURE, IGNORE MY QUESTION."

"oh, vriskers, wouldn't it be easier if karkitty helped?"

Vriska didn't even look up from her dice. "No, he'd just get in the way."

"but we c0uld b0rr0w his sickle, that's all we need…"

"it wouldn't take as much time if we used the sickle!"

"WHY DO YOU WANT MY SICKLE?"

"you could purrobably do it fur us, if you don't want us to use your sickle."

"No, he'd just chicken out. Give it to me, it'll only take a minute if I do it."

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?"

"Pffffffff. If we told you, you wouldn't let us have it."

"…YOU CAN'T HAVE IT."

"we just need a sharp 0bject t0 0pen this package that was delivered to vriska when we w0ke up."

"WHERE IS THIS PACKAGE?"

"we left it in equius's respiteblock group!"

"…FINE, JUST GIVE IT RIGHT BACK."

Karkat handed the sickle to Vriska, who took it quickly, in case he changed his mind. Karkat, sensing that he had just done something horribly wrong, tried to reach back for it. However, Vriska held it behind her back. She smirked, and then walked to the other side of the room where Tavros was sleeping. With one swift move of the sickle-

"VRISKA WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"

"aAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"TAVROS!"

Karkat ran over to Tavros, who was covered in his own brown blood, and pushed Vriska clear out of the way of the poor cripple. Tavros was wide awake now, and in complete shock. Terezi and Gamzee woke up to the sound of Tavros's screams. Terezi gasped and screamed, but Gamzee just sat there, unfazed. Nepeta tried to walk over to the scene, but Karkat pushed her back as well.

"karkitty, it's not what you think-"

"NEPETA, SHUT THE FUCK UP! JUST SHUT UP! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT GOT INTO THE THREE OF YOU! FIRST YOU AND VRISKA GOT ALL BUDDY BUDDY AFTER YOU AND EQUIUS BROKE OFF, AND NOW YOU'RE TRYING TO MURDER OUR FRIENDS IN THEIR SLEEP? THERE CAN'T POSSIBLY BE ANYTHING THAT ANY OF YOU WOULD GAIN FROM MURDERING TAVROS! AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW YOU GOT ARADIA INTO ALL OF THIS. I EXPECT SOMETHING LIKE THIS FROM THAT BITCH OVER THERE, BUT ARADIA AND NEPETA, I THOUGHT YOU KNEW BETTER!"

"but karkat-"

"I GET IT. THIS SHIP MAKES TROLLS GO INSANE. BUT THAT ISN'T AN EXCUSE! TAVROS WILL NEVER GET HIS FUCKING LEGS BACK! AT LEAST HE HAD SOMETHING THERE WHEN HE WAS IN HIS FOUR WHEELED DEVICE, BUT YOU JUST TOOK EVERYTHING AWAY FROM HIM! FUCK YOU. FUCK ALL OF YOU! I'M SO SICK OF ALL OF YOUR UGLY FUCKASS FACES!"

Karkat took Tavros's body and stormed out of the respiteblock. Nepeta and Aradia were crying. Gamzee was shocked. Vriska was shaken. Terezi was enraged.

"1 SUR3 HOP3 YOU'R3 PROUD OF YOURS3LV3S." Terezi stormed out after Karkat, and tried to catch up with him. Karkat was running down the hallway.

"T4VROS 4R3 YOU OK4Y?"

" ,,,dO I LOOK OKAY? bE HONEST,"

"Y3S," lied Terezi, "YOU LOOK F1N3. YOU'R3 GO1NG TO B3 F1N3."

Karkat kept running, but he didn't know where. He just wanted to get Tavros away from that room full of murderers. Tavros was still in shock, and was trying not to look down at all. Terezi was looking around for any infirmary or adult that could help them. No, wait. That was stupid, she started thinking.

They were adults. They had to take care of things by themselves.

But they didn't have any idea what to do. Neither of them knew what to do with a troll who just had his legs cut off. Desperate, they started running through the hallways asking random trolls what they should do. Most trolls automatically shut the door, and some were just scared they'd get culled for helping a crippled lowblood. As they were turned down by their fifteenth or sixteenth troll, they heard a voice call out to them.

"Ah, peasantb100d. I've been waiting."


	16. Handing off the Doomed

"NOT R1GHT NOW, 3QU1US, W3'R3 1N 4 CR1S1S!"

"What kind of crisis?"

"DO YOU NOT SEE TAVROS?"

Equius, confused, looked from Tavros, then to Terezi, to Karkat, and then back to Tavros.

"I do not see the problem here. Other than your e%tremely concerned e%pressions."

"TAVROS IS MISSING HIS FUCKING LEGS, EQUIUS. HOW DENSE CAN YOU BE, YOU SWEATY ASSHOLE?"

"I had believed that was a part of the plan."

"WH4T?"

For the past few weeks, Nepeta had been pestering Equius to perform a job for her. Then, after a disgustingly long chat with Equius via husktop, Equius stormed away without logging off. Vriska, his next door neighbor, had coincidentally peeked into his respiteblock, looking for her dice she had dropped. Being the nosy troll she was, she sneaked onto his computer and read his whole conversation with Nepeta.

Nepeta requested Equius to craft Tavros some new legs.

At first, Vriska thought this was stupid. She closed Equius's husktop for him, and promptly left his hive. She laughed at how idiotic the idea was. Of course Equius wouldn't do such a thing! He's always so hung up on the hemospectrum, it was so useless to try and convince him to do something like that.

But she kept thinking about it, right up until she started packing all of Equius's bags. She knew it was really dumb to pity him, but she did cause all of the hype about Tavros. Trolls didn't feel sorry for each other, though. It was a foolish idea, she shouldn't have cared about it. But maybe, she thought, he wouldn't be as weak and spineless if he could walk again. MAYBE. (She also kind of felt bad about it but she would never admit that, ever.)

And then, Vriska was turned down by Equius. But then, maybe, if both she and Nepeta tried to convince him together, he might give in. However, when that didn't work, they deployed Aradia and Gamzee. Finally, they had a chance of convincing him to do it. And there he was, standing in front of the bloody trio, ready to hold up his end of the deal.

"WHAT PLAN ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Did they not tell you?"

"NO. 3NL1GHT3N US."

"Vriska and Nepeta have been trying to convince me to help the lowb100d walk again for a couple of weeks."

"WHAT? HOW WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT?"

"They suggested robotic legs in replacement of his old ones. They offered to do the dirty work, and it seems that they have succeeded."

"W41T. TH3Y W3R3 TRY1NG TO H3LP?"

"Was that not evident?"

"NO. I THOUGHT THAT VRISKA WAS JUST TRYING TO MURDER HIM."

"Well, are you going to hand him over?"

"UH…SUR3?"

Karkat passed Tavros to Equius, who flinched at touching such low blood.

"YOU'RE NOT JUST PULLING A FAST ONE, ARE YOU? YOU'RE ACTUALLY HELPING?"

"I don't go back on my word." Equius looked at Karkat's face. Karkat, realizing the danger, quickly turned his head. In normal circumstances, Equius would try and figure out why this…whateverblood was hiding himself. But there was a dying troll in his arms right now, about to pass out from blood loss. He had to fix this right now.

"I'll deliver him back to your respiteblock when I am finished." Equius turned and scurried back to the direction of his respiteblock. Terezi and Karkat, confused and scared, contemplated going back. They weren't sure what to say to everybody back there; Karkat was kind of an asshole to them a couple minutes ago. They jumped to conclusions. But at least Tavros was going to be okay.

The two of them sat in a common area for about an hour, until a little maroonblooded troll came over to them.

"Excuse me? You there, the one with the pants." She pointed squarely at Karkat.

"YEAH, IT'S REALLY STUPID."

"No, that's not it. I wanted to warn you."

"ABOUT WHAT?"

"The little symbol on your hand."

Karkat had been wondering what the symbol was. He saw a couple of other trolls with them, but most of their symbols were in a purple color. Vriska had a red symbol, while Karkat and Tavros had black ones. The symbol was the Condesce's, much like the ones strewn all over the ship. No matter how much they tried to rub it off, they were unsuccessful.

"TH4T TH1NG? DO YOU KNOW WH4T 1T 1S?"

"It's a culling symbol, I think. I heard some guards talking about it."

"CULLING SYMBOL? IS IT POISON OR SOMETHING?"

"No, it just means that once you get off the ship, they're going to capture you and cull you publicly. The black symbol means you have a disability, I've heard." The girl got a bit antsy. "I don't think I should talk to you much longer. I don't want to get a red symbol."

"4ND TH4T 1S?"

"Helping one with a black symbol, I think. They think it's treason. Anyway, I can't be here." She ran off, not allowing any more conversation.

Karkat was shaking.

"SO IT DIDN'T EVEN MATTER IF I GOT ON THE SHIP UNDETECTED? I'M GOING TO FUCKING DIE ANYWAY?"

"K4RK4T-"

"AND TAVROS TOO! EVEN IF HE GETS LEGS, HE CAN'T GET THE SIGN RUBBED OFF!"

"K4RK4T, L1ST3N-"

"THERE'S NOTHING THAT ANY OF US CAN DO RIGHT NOW, TEREZI! THIS IS COMPLETE BULLSHIT, YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" Karkat stood up and started running away.

"W41T, W3 C4N F1GUR3 SOM3TH1NG OUT!"

But Karkat was already too far away.


	17. The Calm Before the Storm

It was about ten minutes before the lights were going to be automatically turned off.

There was a knock on the door, and Nepeta sulked over to the door. She greeted Tavros, gave a quick nod to Equius, who promptly left so he wouldn't be late to get to sleep. Tavros, who was just fitted for his legs, was still getting used to them and had to walk on crutches until he got used to the legs.

"how are you doing, tavros?"

"i'M FINE, bUT I'M STILL KIND OF SORE, i GUESS," He looked quickly at Vriska.

"Hey, it's 8etter than 8eing all stiff and useless all the time, you should thank me!"

"hEy SiS, bE a BiT mOrE cOnSiDeRaTe, He'S pRoBaBlY tIrEd."

"Whatever."

"tHANKS VRISKA, rEALLY," He straddled over to his recoopracoon. "i THINK I SHOULD GO TO SLEEP A LITTLE EARLY, iF THAT'S ALRIGHT,"

"g0 ahead."

Tavros went to his recoopracoon, but still couldn't get inside on his own. As Gamzee was helping him, the door swung open.

"SH1T."

"Come 8ack to apologize, Terezi?"

"NO."

"where were you this whole time?"

"LOOK1NG FOR K4RK4T. H3 FR34K3D OUT 4ND NOW 1 C4N'T F1ND H1M!"

"wHaT hApPeNeD tO hIm?"

"W3 FOUND OUT WH4T THOS3 SYMBOLS M34N." Terezi told everybody about the troll they met in the hallway.

"wHAT? wHY?"

"8ut I didn't help him out! I said he was going to 8e a meat shield, how is that helping?"

"they purrobably thought you were defending him, vriskers."

"s0 where did karkat g0?"

"1F 1 KN3W, H3 WOULD B3 DR4GG3D H3R3 BY NOW."

"dOn'T wOrRy, We'Ll AlL gO lOoK fOr HiM tOmOrRoW."

"1 GU3SS…"

There was a ding on Sollux's computer again. This time, Aradia went to answer it.

- 00110010 began trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] -

00110010 01101111 00110010

TA: n0, he's n0t here, s0rry.

01100001 01100001 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101001 01110100 00100111 00110010 00100000 01101101 01100101

01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00101100 00100000 01101001 01101001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01101001 01101001 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 00110010 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01101101 01100101

TA: 0_0

TA: what.

Aradia blocked the stranger. It couldn't have been that important, she thought.

What? Another ding?

- hexidecimal began trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] -

32 74 6f 70 20 62 6c 6f 63 6b 69 69 6e 67 20 6d 65 21

69 69 20 72 65 61 6c 6c 79 20 6e 65 65 64 20 68 65 6c 70 21

Aradia blocked this stranger too.

"wHo KeEpS tRyInG tO tRoLl SoLlUx?"

"i have n0 idea. i can't read any 0f this stuff."

"May8e they talk to him all the time, 8ut he's the only one that can read it."

Nepeta stared at her feet. She thought that they could all stick together on the ship, but they were getting more scattered every night. She looked toward her makeshift shipping wall she made the night before during Terezi and Vriska's spat. She tried to hide it behind her recoopracoon, but it wasn't hidden enough, so anybody could see it. She didn't dare put some of her more secretive ships on this wall. She was way too embarrassed. Nepeta glanced over at Terezi, who had her head hanging low. Nepeta sauntered over to Terezi.

"how are you doing?"

"F1N3, 1 GU3SS."

"do you think we'll be able to find him?"

"W3LL, H3'S OBV1OUSLY ON TH3 SH1P, N3P3T4."

"you're right. there's nowhere else fur him to go."

Terezi looked out the window.

"4R3 YOU M4D 4BOUT 3QU1US?"

"i don't think it's all his fault."

"BUT 1T'S NOT YOURS, 31TH3R."

Nepeta smiled a bit. "maybe we can make up later."

"…1 DON'T TH1NK SO. H3 W4S B31NG 4 SW34TY J3RK."

"…i guess you're right."

The lights turned off. Blackout.

"sEe YoU aLl ToMoRrOw,"


	18. In Front of the Door

The fourth night, everybody wandered the halls looking for Karkat. They even got Gamzee to convince Equius to help them. They had all split into three small teams, to cover as much ground as possible.

The old Team Charge was reunited during this time. They were in charge of patrolling the hallways. He was most likely here, they had thought, and since Karkat was talking to Tavros more often now, he wouldn't run away from the two of them. Tavros was alternating between trying to walk on his new legs and using crutches. Aradia was trying to look in all directions at once, frantic and worried. Tavros cried out for Karkat multiple times, but there was never an answer.

"i HOPE NOTHING HAPPENED TO HIM,"

"well, we sh0uld just keep walking then, shall we?"  
>"wHY WOULD HE RUN OFF LIKE THAT?"<p>

"it was pr0bably because 0f the news ab0ut the marks."

Tavros looked down at his hand. "sINCE I CAN WALK NOW, dO YOU THINK THEY WILL STILL CULL ME?"

Aradia didn't know what to say. Sure, if Tavros was a higher blood, they wouldn't do much to him. But he wasn't. She didn't want to scare Tavros, but she didn't want to lie to him.

"i h0nestly d0n't kn0w."

Vriska, Terezi, and Nepeta were given the task of looking in all of the dangerous places for Karkat. This was the worst case scenario: if Karkat was captured. Vriska was dedicated to using her powers to make sure they were all unseen, while Terezi and Nepeta served as spies, searching inside all of the unpleasant rooms. They searched in all of the boiler rooms, peeked into the pilot's room, and sneaked into any other dodgy rooms. As they were sliding around, they came up to the battery holder room.

"do you think this is where they have sollux?"

"M4YB3 1F H3 1S 1N TH3R3, W3 C4N G3T H1M OUT."

"8ut then the ship would stop."

"pawssibly they have others in there, and not just sollux, so we could go and get him!"

They peeked their heads into the room. Not only was Sollux not there, but there were about a dozen trolls their age, all psychics, stuck in cages.

"WH4T'S GO1NG ON H3R3?"

One of the trolls shushed Terezi. "They keep us here until the one steering the ship gets his shift over with."

"when does his shift end?"

"When he either passes out or dies, depending on how strong he is."

A second troll shushed the first, and turned to Terezi, Nepeta, and Vriska. "Leave! You'll be marked if you don't!"

The three of them rushed out of the room, and Vriska mumbled to herself, "Too l8 for that, I guess."

"W3'R3 NOT T3LL1NG 4R4D14 4BOUT TH1S, YOU GOT TH4T?"

The other two nodded. Aradia was already too much of a wreck.

Gamzee and Equius were supposed to be checking the respiteblocks for any sign of Karkat, but Equius pulled Gamzee aside from their task.

"Highb100d, stop this f001ishness, please."

"wHaT fOoLiShNeSs?"

"You're a highb100d, you shouldn't be cavorting with all of these peasantb100ds."

"mAn, StOp TalKiNg AbOuT aLl ThAt, TrOlLs ArE tRoLlS, tHeRe'S nO dIfFeReNcE. i ThInK."

"You think?"

Gamzee realized at this moment that he hadn't had sopor in about a day. He ate his last pie last night, the last one he had packed. There wasn't near enough sopor to eat in the recoopracoons either, at least without having horrible nightmares. He didn't know how he felt about the lowbloods right now. One part of him thought that they were like any other troll, the other part made him think he might be…better than them.

"Why don't you just stay at the respiteblock I am currently residing in, highb100d? We can talk there. Allow us to cease this wild goose chase."

Gamzee agreed, and the two of them walked back to Equius's respiteblock.

Meanwhile, Team Charge had just finished searching every last hallway. Karkat was nowhere to be found. Once more, they should look around the hallways once more. Tavros started on his crutches, and Aradia started in the same direction, when they heard a familiar voice.

"NOT AT ALL, ASSHOLES."

Along with the familiar voice chimed in some other voices, which were not as familiar.

"Mister Vantas, language!"

"Oh, hush, he's just afraid!"

"Keep it down, both of you! He might be heard!"

"HEY NOOKSUCKERS, LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

There was a bang on the wall. Aradia and Tavros ran to the door.

Who knows what they were doing to him? They could have been hemospectric highbloods torturing him, for all they knew! Tavros tripped under his own legs trying to get to the door in. The trolls behind the door made some rustling noises, and there was another profanity screeched from Karkat. Aradia quickly helped Tavros onto his crutches, and they scurried to the door. Without knocking, Aradia swung the door open.


	19. Anger the Ram, Disappoint the Dragon

What was behind the door was anything but threatening.

There were about six trolls there, all maroon blooded, smiling and laughing. Karkat was in the middle of a small circle of them, fuming. A few of them were holding books, pointing to Karkat and pointing back to the book. There were shuffling sounds emitted from one of the books, which was being held by a troll flipping frantically through it.

"uHH, wHAT'S GOING ON HERE, eXACTLY?"

Karkat turned his head and saw Tavros and Aradia standing at the door. "FUCK."

"Mister Vantas, are these your friends?" asked one of the trolls around him.

"yes, we are. what exactly is g0ing 0n here?"

One of the trolls, the small girl that had informed them about the symbols in the hallway, spoke up. "We're trying to get as many marked trolls as possible and help them get off the ship safely. When I saw him, I knew we couldn't help him right then and there, or else we might get culled too. I told him about it," she pointed to another troll.

He laughed. "I saw him in the hallway, sulking and griping about something, and I first thought he had maroon blood, so I invited him to stay with us," he gestured to his group, "Our little group of scholars."

"s0 y0u're all sch0lars?" asked Aradia.

"Yes!" piped up one of the smaller trolls, "Historians!"

"Are you a scholar as well, sister?" inquired one troll, pointing to Aradia.

"i'm actually m0re interested in arache0l0gy."

"sO WHY DIDN'T YOU LET HIM LEAVE?"

"When he got here, we saw his eyes. They were a bit brighter than ours."

A third one held up his book. "We looked it up, and we might have figured out some-"

Karkat quickly interrupted the troll, "THEY HAVEN'T LET ME OUT OF HERE THIS WHOLE TIME. I HAD TO LISTEN TO THEM GAWKING AT MY BLOOD FOR AN ENTIRE NIGHT. I'M PRETTY SURE THIS PLACE IS THE SEVENTH CIRCLE OF HELL OR SOMETHING."

"karkat, d0n't interrupt. what did y0u find?"

The troll with the big book flipped to a page and walked over to Aradia. "This is the only section about it. I'm sure the Empress ordered any books to eradicate information about rebellions and such. But this book was published in secret, we think." He handed the book to her. Karkat was tried to get the book away from Aradia, but now she was interested.

The page that he flipped to didn't have any pictures, and it was a basic block of text about two or three pages long. There was also no title to the passage, and there were strange sections of text about another subject around the parts that Aradia was trying to read. She imagined this was how the book got past censors. However, the parts that were pointed out to Aradia only spoke of ancient rebellions. This couldn't possibly have anything to do with Karkat, she imagined.

"what am i l00king at here?"

"Don't you see it, sister?"

"n0, n0thing 0f t0tal interest here."

"She doesn't see it. Don't even try." The troll with the book backed slowly away, and shut the book closed, kicking up some dust in the air. Karkat gave a relieved sigh, as if he was afraid of what Aradia would have seen, whatever that would be.

"kARKAT, iF YOU'RE NOT ENJOYING YOURSELF HERE, tHEN WHY NOT COME BACK TO THE RESPITEBLOCK? eVERYBODY IS SO WORRIED,"

"I CAN'T GO BACK THERE. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, TAVROS."

"but we've been l00king for y0u! we th0ught s0mething h0rrible had happened!"

"I'M FINE, THANKS FOR CHECKING UP ON ME AND WHATEVER. BUT I'M NOT GOING BACK."

"y0u're just g0ing t0 stay with them?"

"NO. I'M LEAVING HERE TOO."

"bUT WHAT WILL WE TELL THE OTHERS?"

"YOU NEVER FOUND ME."

"wHAT DON'T YOU WANT US TO KNOW?"

"SHUT UP, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG. JUST GO OR SOMETHING."

"this is insane, karkat."

"NO, THIS IS THE BEST IDEA I'VE HAD SINCE I STOPPED CHATTING ONLINE WITH THE REST OF YOU."

Aradia was fuming. "well, if that's what y0u think, then i better n0t see y0ur face any l0nger!" She turned her back to Karkat sharply, threw the door open and stormed out of it. Everybody in the room was wide-eyed. Tavros turned himself to Karkat.

"lOOK, iF YOU DO WANT TO COME BACK, tHAT'S FINE, bUT YOU BETTER BE READY TO APOLOGIZE TO ARADIA, aND EVERYBODY ELSE TOO," Tavros followed after Aradia, tripping over his own legs a couple of times, but never falling.

All eyes turned to Karkat.

"Mister Vantas?"

Karkat said nothing, and left the room in silence. He started in a run down the long hallway, in the opposite direction of Aradia and Tavros. Tavros looked back, but knew better than to try and call Karkat over. He didn't even want to see Karkat's face right now.

As Karkat turned a corner, he bumped into a familiar face.

"K4RKL3S, TH3R3 YOU 4R3! WH4T H4PP3N3D?"  
>Karkat tried to go around Terezi, but she blocked his path. Nepeta and Vriska followed suit, and positioned each other around him so he couldn't escape.<p>

"LET ME BE, YOU GUYS."

"Not until you tell us why we had to search everywhere on the ship just to find you."  
>"there must be a purrfectly good reason, right karkitty?"<br>Karkat just stood there. Maybe if he didn't move, they wouldn't be able to see him. That's how trolls work, right?

"T3LL US. NOW. 1'M W41T1NG."

Karkat forcefully pushed Terezi out of the way, and ran as fast as he could away from the three of them. Terezi fell to the ground, and let out a shriek. Vriska immediately pursued Karkat while Nepeta just stood there, frozen. Vriska almost caught up with Karkat, and when they came up to another corner, she grabbed the back of Karkat's ridiculously tall pants. There was a bit of a ripping sound.

"VR1SK4, DON'T R1P THOS3!"

"They're just pants, Terezi! I'm trying to make sure he doesn't get away, you should 8e thanking me!"

"LOOK CLOS3R, VR1SK4."

Vriska felt the fabric of the pants, (to Karkat's embarrassment and dismay) and recognized it immediately. "Didn't you find these when we were FLARPing that one time? Why would you keep a thing like this?"

"1T W4S 1NT3R3ST1NG. 1 H4D K4N4Y4 F1X TH3M UP, B3C4US3 TH3Y W3R3 H1S S1Z3 3X4CTLY."

Karkat was becoming impaitent, and jerked himself away from Vriska's hand.

"CAN I LEAVE NOW? I CAN'T STAY HERE."

"but karkitty, we purromised we would stick together!"

"I NEVER SAID I WOULDN'T COME BACK. I JUST HAVE TO GET SOMETHING DONE FIRST. I'LL COME BACK IN A COUPLE OF NIGHTS, AT LEAST BEFORE WE HAVE TO LEAVE THE SHIP."

"K4RK4T, WHY-"

"JUST LET ME GO."

The four of them exchanged looks between each other, and Terezi sighed. She nodded, followed by nods from Vriska and Nepeta. Karkat quietly started to leave, but then remembered something.

"CAN YOU TELL ARADIA I'M SORRY? I DIDN'T MEAN WHAT I SAID."

"1 DON'T KNOW WH4T YOU D1D, BUT 1F YOU W4NT TO 4POLOG1S3, YOU'LL H4V3 TO DO 1T TO H3R F4CE."

"FINE."

Karkat turned back around, and left without looking back again.


	20. Meat Shield

The ship jerked to a halt. Every troll on the ship was thrown out of their recoopracoons and onto the floor. There were sounds of yelling, cackling, and frightened screams coming from the top of the ship. On the left side of the ship, a large dent had formed, and another ship was the cause. Coming from the battery room, there was an agonized scream, which rung throughout the whole ship.

Sollux had been knocked free from the holder. He was too small to fit in there, so he fell out easily. With as much energy as he could muster, he ran toward the unlocked door and swung it wide open. While the guards were discombobulated by the damage to the ship, he sprinted toward the nearest hiding place he could find; under a stairwell.

He would have been able to get out sooner, if his friends had bothered translating his messages. He may have been hooked up to the ship, but that did not stop him from hacking the ship's main computer.

The guards, frantically searching for him, ran right past Sollux. Apparently they didn't anticipate their battery hiding from them. How hard would it be to find a tired out Helmsman running away? That is, if he was running. He was a strategic troll. Instead of wasting his energy on running away as far as possible, he saved his breath and hid in a small area they wouldn't even bother checking out.

After about ten minutes without seeing a guard, Sollux tentatively slipped out of the staircase and sneaked up the stairs, to the hallway with his respiteblock. He checked for guards around every corner, and sulked around as silently as possible. After five minutes of sneaking around, he came to his respiteblock. He looked both ways, and knocked on the door twice. When Vriska opened the door, he ran right inside into the safety of the room.

"s0llux!"

The remaining trolls in the room greeted Sollux with tears and hugs, which Sollux resisted greatly. He was so tired; he didn't need all these trolls around him like this. He just wanted some sleep. Nonetheless, he was happy to be out of that personal hell.

"Any idea what stopped the ship?"

"ii wa2n't payiing attentiion. two bu2y runniing for my liife."

"yOU'RE NOT HURT, aRE YOU? tHAT WAS A PRETTY LARGE CRASH,"

"iit only knocked me out of the holder, nothiing 2peciial."

Sollux looked around the room, and noticed two trolls missing.

"what happened two kk and gz?"

Everybody stopped. What did happen to Gamzee? He had simply disappeared the night before, along with Equius. Perhaps the two of them left together?

"we don't have any idea," said Nepeta.

There was another crash, this time coming from the right side of the ship.

"We should go investig8. Seems like fun, who's with me?"

"ii'm 2tayiing here."

"me t00."

The other trolls agreed to go investigate with Vriska. They were just as curious as her, anyway.

When they exited the respiteblock, they were thrown into a small battlefield. Space pirates had infested the entire ship, and their mission was quite apparent: To kill or recruit lowbloods to their ships.

Vriska was absolutely ecstatic about the turn of events. As she wanted to become a pirate herself, this was probably a perfect opportunity to steal a ship and start her career with a good foot. She was going to get culled immediately after leaving this ship anyway, why not break some rules? As a pirate, she didn't need any rules in the first place; only ships.

Vriska ran to the stairs, looking for the leader of one of the ships. The other trolls followed her, and they found themselves at the top of the ship. The two ships that had crashed into their ship were fairly small, but Vriska mumbled something about starting from humble beginnings. Suddenly, the small group realized they were surrounded.

Meanwhile, a separate group of pirates were surrounding Gamzee and Equius. Gamzee, who had drastically changed since the night before, had just pulverized some of the pirates with his clubs. His makeup was messy, his hair more tangled and wild than usual. A murderous smile replaced the genuine, happy one. He barked out various orders to Equius, calling him a "dirty peasantblood". The pirates, sensing the highblood's hostility, dropped their weapons and ran. Gamzee smiled again, and laughed at the dead bodies. Around the corner, there was a spy. The spy looked at the highblood and scrunched up his face.

This wasn't happening. It would never happen.

The spy put his arm on his eyes, and red tears fell to the floor.

Shit, nobody saw that, right?

On the deck of the ship, pirates were running everywhere, and the trolls had to dodge their various attacks and reciprocate immediately. Out of the corner of Terezi's eye, she saw Tavros fighting a fairly large pirate, but he was doing well enough. He seemed to be well adjusted to his legs by now. She looked over at Nepeta, who was kicking the shit out of some of the bigger pirates. Vriska kept rolling her dice, but no luck blessed her today. She used to have all the luck, and now she was relying on stupid Terezi to cover for her mistakes. She was quickly the loser in this battle. Terezi had to fend off another attacker, and Tavros took Terezi's place, covering for Vriska's unluckiness.

Suddenly, a suprise attack sprang on a tragic troll.

However, before a word of warning could be uttered-

"W4TCH OUT!"

All eyes turned to Tavros and Vriska.

The meat shield had been deployed.


	21. Fooled You

Tavros looked behind him. Vriska looked in front of her. She gave a wry smile, and fell to the ground. The pirate had stabbed the meat shield, who had thrown herself behind the target. Tavros cried out for Vriska, who just laid there. Terezi and Nepeta ran over to take care of the pirates surrounding the two trolls. After they had cleared the area, the three of them picked up Vriska, who had passed out, and ran to the respiteblock.

Sollux and Aradia were horrified when the injured Vriska was carried in. After the whole ordeal was explained to the two, the scene became even more confusing. Why would Vriska dart behind Tavros just so that he wouldn't get stabbed? There was some sort of ulterior motive, she wouldn't just sacrifice herself for Tavros like that so suddenly. Maybe it was an accident? She could have not seen the pirate, and could have been trying to get out of the way of another pirate? There were just too many explanations that would never fit into the scenario, but at the same time were entirely possible.

For a few hours, the trolls spent their time making sure that Vriska didn't die. There were a few more crashes on the ship, but there wasn't much else exciting. Every once in a while, there was an ominous honking sound, which was the only other sound that attracted any attention away from the unconscious Vriska.

Everybody decided it would be safer to stay inside the respiteblock for the rest of the evening. They didn't want yet another troll to get injured or separated, after all. They also decided to go search for Gamzee and Karkat the next night, to get everybody back to normal. Terezi and Aradia demanded that Sollux and Vriska stay inside the respiteblock for the remainder of the trip, which Sollux didn't object to.

For the hours that the trolls were tending to Vriska, they tried to fill Sollux in on the events that had transpired during his absence. The meanings of the markings, the gift that Tavros received, the disappearance of Karkat and Gamzee, and the mysterious messages that had been popping up on Sollux's computer.

"that wa2 me, you a22hole2! ii wa2 tryiing two get you two break me out of there!"

"but we c0uldn't read the messages. they were enc0ded!"

"that'2 when you're 2upposed to fiigure it out!"

"and h0w were we supp0sed to do that?"  
>"she's right, sollux, we have no idea how to translate compurrtor stuff!"<p>

"ii thought that at lea2t kk would have 2ome iidea on what two do. ii diidn't thiink he would go away halfway through the riide."

"H3Y, 4T L34ST YOU'R3 F1N3 NOW."

"yeah, never doiing that agaiin, for everyone'2 iinformatiion."

"then what will y0u d0?"

Sollux stared into space for a moment. There wasn't much else he could do, to be honest. He could be in the military, probably? But that was far too boring. Besides, now that these guards know that he escaped his post, they wouldn't give a crap about what happened to him. Just give him to a highblood that will run him dry in a sweep or so. That'll teach him.

The others, sensing Sollux's coyness, saw that he didn't have a plan. At first, they thought how stupid and unprepared he was. Then, there was a collective eye widening and gasp.

They had all realized how uncertain their future was.

Aradia, who loved archeology, faced the fact that she was most likely going to be shipped into the military. The Condesce didn't give a rat's ass about history. In fact, she was trying to erase it. Aradia realized that she would never see most of her friends again, thinking how they would be categorized into professions worlds apart from hers, whether she became an archeologist or not. For the first time in her life, she felt truly alone.

Tavros, the marked troll, wouldn't be able to step a foot outside the ship without being jailed and killed publically. Sure, they could find some way to escape this fate in the same fashion that Karkat did, but how long would he really last? This culling ink would never rub off, not until the pulse stopped and the body decayed. He would never be a Cavalreaper, he would never be able to walk out in public without the fear of dying. He might as well have been dead.

Terezi, who probably had the most certain future, stopped and thought about how likely it really was for a rookie such as herself to become a prosecutor without serving in the military beforehand. Sure, she had participated in her own courtroom dramas at her hive, but who would take that for a grain of salt? She had heard of stories of a young prosecutor such as herself going very far, but what would she have in common with that kind of troll? That happened so many sweeps ago.

And then, they all turned back to Vriska, who had just crushed any chances she had of becoming a great pirate, all to save one small lowblood. There was no real explanation for it at all. Tavros walked over to her and poked her face a few times, at which point Vriska slowly awoke.

"What…..happened?"

"W3 H4V3 NO 1D34. YOU T3LL US."

"wHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING, lIKE THAT,,,"

"Tavros, you're so weak and stupid. Some8ody has to make sure you're not tripping over yourself all the time, I thought I could fill that position."

* * *

><p>Okay, I do admit I have been very bitchy with all of these cliffhangers, so you get another chapter tonight! Hot off the press!<p>

For some odd reason, this part is thick with cliffhangers. I've planned out the next nine chapters, and there's only like, one more cliffhanger you have to live through.

Oh, did I mention there's only nine chapters left after this one? I didn't? Well, you only have nine more chapters. It's wrapping up quite nicely, if you ask me. But only one more cliffhanger left. Five boondollars if you can guess which one. (Not really, I can't give you people fake money)

And I don't normally post author's notes at the bottom, because I do tend to banter on far longer than I should...(three paragraphs later)...I really don't like my bantering, but I do like to communicate with my audience. Anyway, I'll post again tomorrow. Tonight you get two chapters, don't get too used to that.


	22. Moirails

It was the fifth night. The spy and the enraged had reached an impasse. The spy armed with a sickle, the enraged with his clubs, stood a sizable distance from each other. There were small indigo cuts on the surface of the enraged, small indigo spots on the spy's sickle. Large bruises on the spy's face and arms, small dents in the clubs of the enraged. Obviously violence was not going to work in this situation, the spy confirmed. He had been watching the enraged for a whole night now. He could tell this anger was out of his reach.

The spy retreated. The enraged gave chase.

The spy ran straight into an empty respiteblock, followed by the enraged. There had to be a way to work this out.

Equius ran down the hallway, in pursuit of Karkat and Gamzee. He came across an old friend, in search of the same trolls. Her hair was messier than usual, and she looked so exhausted. She tripped over her own feet, and fell to the floor. When she looked up, Equius was there, reaching out his hand to her.

"Nepeta, I hope you realize it is not too late to apologize for what you did."

Nepeta refused to take his hand. "what did i do wrong, exactly? i helped out one of my furriends!"

"He was a dirty lowb100d."

"by those standards, you probably think i'm a dirty lowblood too!"

"I felt that I was obligated to protect you."

"purrtect me? that's ridiculous! you don't like anybody lower than you!"

"You are only a tier lower than I. If we dwell on these small gaps, society will crash. However, I cannot ignore the e%tremely obvious gaps."

Nepeta stood herself up. "you mean like the gap between you and aradia?"

"…You can't possibly know about that."

"i heard it furom vriskers. i thought it was funny." There was an angry glimmer in her eyes.

"You're acting awfully strange, Nepeta."

"i could say the same about you." Nepeta brought out her claws, and brought them to Equius's eye level.

There was the sound of a crash from a nearby respiteblock. Equius and Nepeta ran to it. Behind the door, the two of them could hear the sounds of Karkat and Gamzee, thought their conversation and acts were muffled and indescribable.

"just leave them be. they can sort their purroblems out alone. all i need is to bring karkitty back. you can have gamzee, i know what you did to him." Nepeta locked eyes with Equius, as if she were a dangerous predator seeking prey.

"Where is the rest of your party?"

"none of your business."

"I was only making small talk. It is the polite thing to do."

"as if you really care about etiquette and politeness. you're the worst."

Equius frowned. Nepeta still stared crossly at him.

A flustered Aradia ran down the hallway, and spotted two enraged trolls in verbal abuse.

"nepeta, we're supp0sed t0 be l00king f0r karkat and gamzee!"

"they're in there, we're just waiting for them to come out."

"Nepeta, I am polite! You're just being barbaric."

"purrlease! when we were meowrails, you bullied me all the time!"

"So? You were the one that didn't complain about it."

"i **always** complained!"

"am i…interrupting s0mething?"

The two of them burst out a spontaneous "no" at Aradia, and continued to fight with each other. Aradia slowly backed away, and headed back to the respiteblock.

"4R4D14, D1D YOU F1ND 31TH3R OF TH3M?"

"uh, d0n't w0rry ab0ut that. nepeta's g0ing t0 bring them back."

Terezi looked over Aradia's shoulder. She saw Nepeta and Equius, yelling at each other.

"UH…WH4T 3X4CTLY-"

"h0nestly, i have n0 idea."

Terezi let out a small giggle, which evolved into a cackle.

Inside the respiteblock, Karkat had found the perfect solution to Gamzee's condition. Instead of fighting Gamzee, it proved much more effective to give just a bit of sopor to him. He was still mostly sober, but it was enough sopor to keep the voices down. After a few paps and swooshes, Gamzee had calmed down enough to listen to reason. Best moilrails.

"GAMZEE. WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER MURDEROUS SUBJUGGULATOR AROUND. IF YOU JOINED THEM I WOULD HAVE A FUCKING ANEURISM ON THE SPOT."

"but bro. THIS IS WHAT I WAS MEANT TO DO, YOU SEE?"

"GAMZEE. YOU SOUND SO STUPID RIGHT NOW."

"and why is that?"

"I KNOW THIS ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK AT ALL."

"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME, MUTANT."

Karkat shoved the handle of his sickle into Gamzee's abdomen. Gamzee doubled over. "DON'T EVER CALL ME THAT, YOU ASSHOLE. YOU'RE NOT LIKE THIS. IT'S THOSE STUPID HIGHBLOOD VOICES YOU HEAR IN YOUR HOLLOW THINK PAN."

"and how in the world WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?"

"YOU TOLD ME, ASSFUCKER."

Gamzee seemed to calm down at that moment, as if he finally started to understand what Karkat was saying.

"…GAMZEE, JUST TRY AND TAKE A BIT OF SOPOR EACH DAY. NOT A WHOLE PIE, THAT JUST MAKES YOU HIGH. BUT ENOUGH TO STOP MURDERING EVERYBODY."

"but that's what everybody wants me to do."

"WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO?"

Gamzee put on a maddening smile. "THEN WHAT DO WE DO NOW, bro?"

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE. I CAN HEAR EQUIUS AND NEPETA OUTSIDE. THEY CAN'T KNOW THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO FOLLOW YOUR HERITAGE."

"my what?"

"LET'S JUST SAY I'VE BEEN READING UP ON SOME HISTORY. THAT DOESN'T MATTER RIGHT NOW, THOUGH. WE HAVE TO ACT LIKE WE'RE GOING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS."

"HOLD ON, BRO. let's just stay here for a minute."

"SURE, JUST DELAY THE INEVITABLE. GREAT IDEA, IDIOT."

They sat there for a considerable amount of time about that, Karkat further calming down the troll, and Gamzee learning to deal with his murderous tendencies.


	23. Crushed Spider

At this time in the respiteblock, Sollux had just fallen asleep, which was exactly what Vriska was waiting for. Tavros was sitting there examining his legs, and was called over to Vriska's recoopracoon.

"wHAT?"

"Look. I didn't want to say this in front of every8ody else, 8ut here it is." She looked down, embarrassed. "I sort of darted 8ehind you as an apology. I don't know if you knew this, 8ut…well, I kind of used some mind powers to-"

"i KNEW ABOUT THAT,"

"You did?"

"i MEAN, i WAS REALLY ANGRY ABOUT IT, i GUESS, bUT EVEN IF I DID SAY ANYTHING, i THOUGHT YOU WOULDN'T CARE,"

"I mean, I didn't start caring until, may8e a few weeks ago. When Nepeta said something a8out it. I just felt really awful all of a sudden. I sort of ruined your life."

"sORT OF?"

"Alright, I ruined your whole life. Happy, Nitram?"

"nO,"

"8ut the point I'm trying to make here is…..…well, fixing your legs was Nepeta's idea, so I didn't take any of the credit, and I still needed some way of apologizing to you."

"yOU STILL PARALYZED ME,"

"I'm not saying it's an excuse! It's more like, you know, your indirect revenge to me."

"i DIDN'T WANT REVENGE ON YOU,"

"That's where you're weak! If you knew a8out it, why didn't you do anything?"

Tavros stood there, silent. He had to lower his eyes to properly see Vriska. For the first time in a long time, he was looking down at somebody else. For most of his life, Tavros had been looked down upon because of his disability, figuratively and literally. Vriska was looking up at him. She had the lower hand. But Tavros didn't like being higher than anybody else. He didn't like being lower, either. Tavros knelt down, and put himself at eye level with Vriska, so they were equals.

"Don't pity me, Nitram. Man, this is stupid. I already knew it was stupid. I feel like such a weakling now."

"yOU'RE NOT WEAK, vRISKA, iT'S JUST THAT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE NICE, i THINK,"

"Trolls aren't nice, Tavros."

"mOST AREN'T, bUT WE'RE ALREADY DEAD IN SPIRIT, wHY NOT BREAK OFF FROM ORTHODOX?"

She seriously considered it.

"i MEAN, iF YOU WERE REALLY MEAN, yOU WOULD HAVE KILLED ME LONG AGO, tHAT'S PERFECTLY REASONABLE IN OUR SOCIETY,"

"W8, you don't think I'm mean? 8ut I'm so mean to you!"

"i THINK, tHAT'S JUST HOW TROLLS ARE RAISED, aND IF YOU WEREN'T A TROLL, tHEN WE WOULD BE FRIENDS, mAYBE,"

Vriska smiled. "Tavros, may8e since you're not like most trolls, you could teach me how to not be as much as a 8itch?"

"wELL, tHAT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE TO LEARN ON YOUR OWN, bUT IF YOU NEED A KICK IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, i WOULDN'T OBJECT TO HELPING YOU,"

"Thanks. That would be gr8." She paused. "Any idea how we're getting out of here without dying?"

Tavros stiffened. "nOT AT ALL, tO BE HONEST, wE SHOULD PROBABLY COME UP WITH SOMETHING, aT LEAST,"

"8ut if we go through any of the doors out of the ship, they'll see us immediately."

"aND WE CAN'T REALLY GET TEREZI'S LUSUS TO HELP, iT WOULD TAKE IT TOO LONG TO FLY OVER HERE,"

"What we really need is some way to know the whole ship's 8lueprints. May8e that would help?"

"bUT THOSE ARE CLASSIFIED, pROBABLY,"

"...Hold on. I think I have a solution."

Vriska slowly rose out of her recoopracoon, still hurt from her wound. She tripped a bit, but rose to her feet well enough. She staggered over to Tavros's four wheeled device and sat herself down.

"wHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"We're going to go find Karkat. He's marked too, remem8er?" She rolled herself over to the door and pushed it open. "We can't just leave one of your friends 8ehind."

"sEE, yOU'RE NOT THAT MEAN,"

"I'm just doing this 8ecause you're his friend. Don't forget that."

"wHATEVER YOU SAY, i GUESS,"

Tavros took the handles of the four wheeled device, and pushed Vriska as fast as he could, hastilily searching for a pair of nubby horns.


	24. Fancy Meeting You Here

Gamzee and Karkat ran out of the respiteblock, dodged Nepeta and Equius, and bolted to a quieter area. Nepeta and Equius, who gave chase, passed right by Gamzee and Karkat, who had found refuge under the staircase.

"GAMZEE, PLEASE. JUST REMEMBER EVERYTHING I TOLD YOU."

"i think i can do that."

"REALLY?"

"HONK."

"GAMZEE, STOP THAT. IT'S CREEPY. NOW, GO ON. BEFORE OTHERS SEE US."

"thanks for looking out for me, bro." It really scared the crap out of Karkat when Gamzee called him "bro" in that strange sober voice.

"WE SHOULD GO IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, AT DIFFERENT TIMES. YOU FIRST."

Gamzee gave Karkat one of his horns as a parting gift, honked it, and started toward Equius's respiteblock group. Karkat stared at the horn. He honked it, too. He thought how the honks should scare him, but surely Gamzee would listen to him. Hopefully.

Karkat sat and waited for a few minutes. He had formed a plan in his head for a while now, and believed he had the solution to his problems. There were just a few kinks to work out. Karkat twirled the horn in his hands, and honked it again. God this thing was creepy.

He lied down on the ground, and looked up at the bottom of the stairs. Even if he was under a staircase, there was plenty of shadow for a frantic passerby not to notice him. At that time, a few frantic passersby came around, but didn't see him. Karkat was a bit relieved. He didn't want any sort of confrontation right now. He tried closing his eyes, but…

"FUCK!"

There was a big, bulbous bump on Karkat's forehead. In his haste, he jumped up from his sedentary position and rammed into a part of the staircase. He just remembered there WAS another confrontation he had to face. Crap, he would have to go back to the respiteblock, then he would have to apologize to Aradia, and then still after that he would have to borrow Sollux's computer to ask that stupid fishlady a favor!

"GODDAMN IT!"

Karkat raced down the hallway, but not long after he turned the third corner, he crashed into what felt like a moving brick wall.

"Vantas. I don't have time for you right now."

"SHUT UP SWEATSTAIN, I'M JUST TRYING TO GET TO THE RESPITEBLOCK."

Equius sighed. "Nepeta was 100king for you. I don't know where she went."  
>"WHAT, DO YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THAT?"<p>

"I was the one who tried to reconcile our moirail status, but no. She was just being 100d about it." He started sweating.

"OKAY, I CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING ON HERE. YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND GET OFF ON THIS WITHOUT ME." Karkat backed away hastily, making sure Equius didn't get a good look at him.

"Wait, Vantas."

"WHAT NOW?"

"I've been meaning to ask you a question."

"SPIT IT OUT, I HAVE BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO, OR SOMETHING." Karkat turned his head away.

"Why are you avoiding 100king at me?"

"WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN ASSHOLE?"

"What a crude response. What is your b100d?"

"NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS."

"Vantas. Please."

Equius stepped closer. Karkat, desperate to get away, considered running away. But if he ran away, he would be running in the opposite direction of the respiteblock. Also, Karkat was pretty sure Equius would be able to run as fast as or faster than him. On top of all that, it was almost time for lights out. If Karkat hid out, he wouldn't be able to find his way back to the respiteblock in pitch black darkness. There was only one way out of this. And he didn't like it.

"IF I TELL YOU WHAT MY BLOOD IS, WILL YOU LET ME GO IN PEACE? WITHOUT CHASING ME, BEATING ME UP OR ANY OTHER FUNNY BUSINESS?"

"Of course."

"…IT'S MAROON, ASSHOLE." Karkat sprinted around Equius, avoided all eye contact, flipped him off, and lost sight of him when he turned the corner. Equius stood there, dumbfounded.

Once again, after turning a few more corners, he looked behind him. There wasn't a soul there. However, there were two in front of him, of whom he failed to see, and after an accidental acrobatic lunge into the lap of a wounded troll, he looked up to see two familiar faces.

"oH, tHERE YOU ARE,"

"We've 8een looking for you, you douche8ag!"

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU IN TAVROS'S FOUR WHEELED DEVICE?"

"It's sort of a long story, 8ut I got sta88ed 8y some pirates."

"HOW IRONIC AND SITUATIONALLY HILARIOUS."

"Oh, so that's what we get for looking for your pathetic lost ass?"

"I WASN'T LOST. I KNOW THIS PLACE LIKE THE BACK OF MY HAND NOW."

Vriska sneered. "That's exactly what I was hoping."


	25. Verbal Abuse

"YEAH, THAT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN IN A MILLION SWEEPS."

"bUT KARKAT,"

"I SAID NO."

Vriska and Tavros had explained to Karkat their ambition to get off the ship alive, and their need for his extensive knowledge of the ship's interior.

"wHY NOT?"

Karkat pointed to Vriska.

"Oh, really? Just 8ecause of me?"

"YOU'D PROBABLY TRY TO SAW OFF ANOTHER SET OF SOMEONE'S APPENDAGES IF WE TOOK YOU."

"kARKAT, iT'S REALLY NOT LIKE THAT,"

"WHY IN ALTERNIA ARE YOU DEFENDING HER? SHE SICKLED YOUR LEGS OFF IN YOUR SLEEP!"

"I just did it so he could walk again. 8esides, it was your sickle, you can't deny that!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, VRISKA."

She looked up at Karkat, who was staring at her with condescension. This was how most trolls looked at her. She was notorious for leaving a bad impression on an individual that almost never dissipated. This was the first time that it started to actually bother her, though.

"kARKAT, yOU SHOULD AT LEAST GIVE HER A CHANCE,"

"A CHANCE TO WHAT? KILL US IN OUR SLEEP?"

"wE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS MORE, lATER, iF THAT WOULD BE BEST, bUT WE REALLY NEED TO GET BACK TO THE RESPITEBLOCK, iT'S ALMOST TIME TO GO TO SLEEP,"

"WELL, I REALLY DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE. I DON'T WANT HER GOING WITH US, PERIOD."

"kARKAT, pLEASE JUST CONSIDER IT BEFORE WE TALK AGAIN,"

"I'M GOING TO HAVE THE SAME VIEW ON THIS WHETHER OR NOT WE TALK AGAIN, SO SHUT UP AND LEAVE THE BITCH BEHIND."

"sTOP THAT, yOU'RE REALLY RUDE TODAY,"

"He's always rude!"

"SHUT UP VRISKA."

"Let's just head 8ack, okay? I'm tired of fighting right now."

The three of them quietly staggered back to the respiteblock, and were greeted by four sleepy trolls. Nepeta jumped in joy at the sight at the three of them, Terezi sank into her recoopracoon contently, and Sollux gave a sleepy nod. Aradia didn't even turn her head toward Karkat, who remembered the apology he had to give. He cautiously wandered toward the troll and tried to sit down next to her. She resisted and scooted over a few spots away.

"ARADIA, I'M SO SORRY."

"and? y0u expect me t0 believe y0u?"

"NOT REALLY."

"that's the w0rst answer i've ever heard. y0u said y0u th0ught ign0ring us was a g00d idea. y0u must have s0mething m0re t0 say than 'i'm s0 s0rry.'"

Terezi jumped out of her recoopracoon. "H3 S41D WH4T?"

"he said that ditching us was the best decisi0n he ever made since the time he decided t0 st0p messaging us." Everybody looked sharply at Karkat.

"LOOK, I REALLY DIDN'T MEAN IT-"

"WHY WOULD YOU S4Y SOM3TH1NG L1K3 TH4T?"

"And I thought I was the resident 8itch here."

"oh, just purrfect, efurrybody is going to start fighting again!"

"he 0nly cares ab0ut himself! everything he d0es has t0 be in his fav0r!"

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT STUPID IDEA?"

"by 0bserving y0ur acti0ns and listening t0 y0ur w0rds."

"…I KNEW COMING BACK HERE WASN'T GOING TO WORK." Karkat pushed Tavros and Vriska aside, and headed toward the door again.

"wAIT, wE HAVE TO THINK OF A PLAN TOGETH-"

"SCREW THE PLANS, TAVROS. WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE ANYWAY."

"wELL, wITH THAT ATTITUDE, yOU WILL DIE,"

"ATTITUDE DOESN'T MATTER, TAVROS. WE WON'T SURVIVE ONE SECOND OUT THERE WITHOUT GETTING CULLED. SEE THESE WEIRD TATTOOS THEY GAVE US? THAT'S OUR DEATH CERTIFICATE. BETTER WRITE A WILL BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" Karkat slammed the door closed.

"What a coward! He left!"

"and a g00d riddance! did y0u see h0w rude he was acting?"

"iN HIS DEFENCE, yOU WERE ACTING PRETTY RUDE TOO, aRADIA,,,"

"n0 i wasn't!"

"yOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE HIM MUCH OF A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF,"

"n0, he was being the jerk! y0u all agree, right?"

Silence.

"well, he was the one that came to you and apologized, so you should show some respect fur him, maybe?"

"respect? he d0esn't even sh0w respect f0r us!"

"but he was the one that was so worried about sollux he had nightmares."

"he diid what? ha, that'2 pretty 2hiitty and hiilariiou2, not gonna liie there."

"and aradia, remember he and terezi were the ones that got all protective ofur tavros when his legs were cut off!"

"but he's d0ne s0 much m0re wr0ng! y0u agree with me, right terezi?"

"4CTU4LLY, 1 DON'T."

"what?"

"4R4D14, YOU'R3 TH3 ON3 TH4T N33DS TO 4POLOG1S3. SUR3, H3 W4S B31NG 4 COMPL3T3 DOUCH3B4G, BUT YOU'R3 4LSO NOT TH3 ON3 TH4T M1GHT D13 TH3 MOM3NT YOU W4LK OFF TH3 SH1P. FR4NKLY, 1'M SUPR1S3D TH4T T4VROS 4ND VR1SK4 H4V3N'T SN4PP3D TOO."

"that's n0t an excuse, th0ugh!"

"aa, you need two go out there riight now and talk two hiim."

"but it's alm0st lights out!"

"YOU OW3 H1M. NOW, GO."

Aradia scoffed, and against her wishes, she left the respiteblock. Moments later, the lights shut off.


	26. Night Shift

Aradia tried to open the door she had previously shut. No use. It was locked. She fumbled around in the darkness, feeling walls and tripping over discarded items lying on the floor. One of these items honked. In the distance, she heard the faint sound of a troll, who sounded like he was trying to oppress an audible profanity.

"karkat? are y0u there?"

"SHUT UP AND GET OVER HERE, ARADIA."

Aradia shut up and got over there. Nonetheless, she didn't see the danger in walking around an empty hallway. She was half glad to see Karkat, though. Her search was fairly short, and she now had a companion to talk to in the dark.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE THE RESPITEBLOCK?"

"i came t0 ap0l0gise t0 y0u. i was acting barbaric back there."

"THAT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER RIGHT NOW. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THIS PLACE IS WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT."

"i d0n't?"

"NO. JUST DON'T MOVE, AND DON'T SAY ANYTHING OVER A WHISPER."

"what's s0 bad ab0ut the dark?"

"WELL, FIRST THE DOORS ALL LOCK AUTOMATICALLY. SO YOU CAN'T GO BACK."

"i already figured that 0ut!"

"SHUT UP. YOU'LL BE HEARD."

"by wh0?"

"THE GUARDS."

"guards run thr0ugh here? why?"

"IF I KNEW WHY THEY DO IT, I WOULD TELL YOU. BUT THESE GUYS ARE BAT SHIT INSANE."

"what d0 they d0?"

"A NUMBER OF THINGS. ONE OF THEM CAPTURED A YELLOW BLOOD THAT WAS SLEEP WALKING, PROBABLY TO GO USE HIM UP OR SOMETHING. ANOTHER ONE SPOTTED A BROWN BLOOD THAT WAS KICKED OUT OF HER RESPITEBLOCK BY HER FRIENDS AS A PRANK. SHE WAS KILLED ON THE SPOT."

One of the guards walked by. Karkat shoved his hand over Aradia's mouth. The guards were almost always olive bloods, but there were a few ceruleans too, who were probably captured pirates who still hungered to slit a few throats. The guard that patrolled past the two of them was rather tall, so he couldn't see the two trolls crouched underneath a bench. Once he was gone, Aradia tore Karkat's hand away from her.

"is this what y0u've been living thr0ugh?"

"…YEAH, SINCE LAST MORNING. THE CRAZY HISTORIANS DIDN'T FIND ME UNTIL AFTER EVERYBODY WOKE UP."

"why didn't y0u tell anyb0dy that these guards were everywhere at night?"

"THEY DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW, ARADIA. NOBODY SHOULD HAVE TO SEE WHAT I SAW LAST NIGHT." Aradia chuckled quietly. "WHAT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY ABOUT SEEING TROLLS DIE RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES?"

"n0, that wasn't what was funny. i just realized how much 0f an idi0t i was being…"

"WHAT?"

" i said y0u didn't care ab0ut anyb0dy but y0urself, yet y0u didn't tell anyb0dy ab0ut the murders 0n purp0se, t0 pr0tect everyb0dy."

"NO, THAT'S NOT THE REASON!"

"i think it is."

"IT'S NOT!"

"then what is?"

Karkat couldn't think of a good enough answer. "UH…BECAUSE IT WAS HORRIBLE TO WATCH AND I DIDN'T WANT TO RELIVE IT."

"n0, i'm pretty sure i'm right."

"FINE, BELIEVE WHATEVER LIES COME TO LIFE IN YOUR OWN IMAGINATION."

The two of them sat there for a good half hour before Karkat spoke up again.

"BY THE WAY, WHY ARE YOU STILL SPEAKING LIKE SOLLUX WAS GONE? HE'S BACK NOW, SO YOU SHOULDN'T BE LIKE YOU WERE BEFORE?"

"like i was bef0re? is my v0ice different?"

"IT SOUNDS REALLY HOLLOW, AS IF YOU WERE DEAD."

Aradia sighed. "i can't really c0ntr0l h0w my v0ice s0unds. maybe it's all the stress fr0m this ship. i can't wait t0 get 0ff."

"IT'S ONLY TWO MORE NIGHTS."

"i kn0w." They both let it sink in. Two more nights. Their whole lives would spring to animation in two nights. Or, in Karkat's case, his whole life would end in two nights. "what are y0u g0ing t0 d0?"

"TRY TO MAKE A PLAN WITH TAVROS."

"what ab0ut vriska?"

"TO HELL WITH VRISKA, SHE'S A TOTAL BITCH."

"y0u need t0 give her a chance, karkat."

"SHE CAN FIND HER OWN WAY OFF THIS SHIP, FOR ALL I CARE."

Aradia didn't want to push Karkat's buttons about this. She already had an argument with him tonight. The only thing she wanted right now was sleep. There wasn't a recoopracoon around, so there was a high chance she would have terrible nightmares. Karkat laid himself down, as if it were routine, and tried to sleep. She tried to lay her head down on the ground too, but instead bumped her head. She tried to sit up and rub it, but knocked her head on the bottom of the bench.

"IF YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO THE RESPITEBLOCK, WE CAN PROBABLY KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND SEE IF SOMEBODY ANSWERS."

"we can d0 that?"

"MAYBE. I HAVE NO IDEA IF THEY LOCK ON THE INSIDE TOO."

The two of them blindly stumbled over to what they thought their respiteblock was. Karkat looked around for any guards patrolling. They were safe for now, he decided. Aradia knocked furiously, expecting a delay between her knocks and the opening of the door. However, the door swung open almost immediately.

Despite all of the lights turned off in the room, every single troll was awake and crowded around the opening of the door.

"WHAT'S WITH YOU ALL? WHY ARE YOU WAITING AT THE DOOR LIKE THAT?"

"nONE OF US COULD GET TO SLEEP, wE WERE SO WORRIED,"

"thanks, that's really c0nsiderate 0-of you."


	27. Facades

The sixth night was the quietest night. The tension on the ship was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. There was silence draping the entire ship, as trolls awaited their impending future, of which was exponentially closer than it was before. Some trolls decided to sleep in the whole day, while others simply lied down on the floor worrying their think pans to death. However, one small respiteblock on the second floor of the ship was anything but quiet. There were laughs and other sounds of lighthearted shenanigans floating out of the respiteblock and throughout the ship.

Two trolls paraded around the room, laughing about the stupidity of the guards. One troll bumped himself into the other, both falling to the floor. They both giggled about it, and brought themselves back up. Another troll acted as if she were blind, and cackled at the idea of her ever being blind. Her partner in crime acted as if she had lost an arm, and also hooted at the idea of being a cripple, despite her current condition. Two others were floating around the room, smiling at the others and chatting about their own experiences around the ship.

They all decided to get ready for the next day while having fun at the same time. Personal items were flying through the air, landing in another troll's arms or inside one of the recoopracoons. A robo-legged troll rushed over to wipe off some slime covering his game cards, while a troll bound to her four wheeled device complained of the heavy lance that was accidentally lobbed at her head. The robo-legged troll apologized, and was forgiven by the second one, an action that surprised most of the others.

As the archeologist was cleaning up a bit, she saw the worn out troll sitting down in front of the door. She walked over to him, and checked his pulse. He was still fine, she thought, but he passed out again. This had started happening since they woke up, which worried everybody else. However, not too long after this, he came back around and celebrated again.

One troll looked behind another's recoopracoon, surprised to find chalk drawings depicting different relationships among the group. The artist blushed. At least she didn't draw anything too embarrassing, the artist sighed. The first troll told her not to worry, that she drew chalk drawings too. She led the artist to the back of her recoopracoon, which showed pictures of their friends in colorful chalk. There was one drawing, the only one drawn in red, which showed the last troll in their group. The artist sighed.

The last troll, who stuck himself in the corner, was not smiling. He was not parading, he was not playing, he was not laughing. He typed furiously on a borrowed husktop, occasionally glancing up at the party presented before him. He sneered, uttered a callous comment, and went back to his work. A few of his colleagues worriedly watched him, wondering about the stability of his mind.

After a while, one of the girls came over to the crabby worker and pulled him up. She invited him to join them in their festivities. The troll looked over at the husktop, but realized this was an opportunity he would no longer have after this moment, a time where he would be able to happily cavort with these trolls. These trolls, who were at such a higher place than he was. He joined them without much convincing, cutting the conversation he was previously engaged in. All of the others welcomed him with open arms and louder laughs.

Inside the respiteblock, however, were not seven trolls celebrating.

Inside the respiteblock housed seven trolls putting up a façade.


	28. Cuttlefish Culler

CG: AND THERE'S REALLY NO WAY I CAN CONTACT HER RIGHT NOW.

GA: Why In The World Would You Want To Talk To Her

CG: I ALREADY EXPLAINED THIS.

GA: But I Feel As Though You Did Not Reveal To Me Your Full And True Intentions

CG: WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO YOU ANYWAY?

GA: I Need A Good Story Right Now

GA: It Is Rather Boring Over Here

CG: OH YEAH, HOW IS THE MOTHER GRUB?

GA: Terrible

CG: FIGURES.

GA: When All Of These Little Grubs Come Through The Trial Caves They Need Somebody To Take Care Of Them Before A Lusus Claims Them

GA: They Are Even More Of A Handful Than The Mother Grub Herself

GA: I Do Not Even Know How Much More Time I Can Use Talking To You

CG: THAT SUCKS.

GA: You Should Try Messaging Feferi Again Though

GA: I Believe She Would Help You

CG: I HOPE SO. SHE'S BEEN REALLY BITCHY LATELY I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW THIS MIGHT GO.

GA: Tell Me How It Goes

CG: SEE YOU.

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA] -

Karkat took the borrowed husktop and pulled up another tab. It was another Trollian tab that he had been fiddling with all day.

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC] -

CG: NO REALLY ANSWER ME THIS TIME.

CG: THIS IS GETTING PRETTY ANNOYING.

CC: H-ELLO!

CG: GODDAMN IT FEFERI THIS IS LIKE THE FIFTH TIME I'VE TRIED MESSAGING YOU TODAY.

CC: It is?

CG: YES.

CG: NOW EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

CC: Um…

CG: WHAT'S THE MATTER?

CC: It's just t)(at I've )(ad some problems contacting everyone lately…

CG: AND THOSE PROBLEMS ARE?

CC: -Eridan, of course.

CC: )(e's been interrupting me all the time w)(enever I want to try and talk to all of you!

CG: YEAH. I COMPLETLEY AND UTTERLY TRUST YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU PINNED THE BLAME ON AN INSUFFERABLE PRICK.

CG: GREAT JOB, YOU JUST ONE THE AWARD FOR "MOST OBVIOUS EXCUSE".

CC: No, it's reely true!

CG: PROVE IT.

CC: And )(ow am I supposed to do that? Please, I don't want to be an urc)(in in your side!

CG: SO YOU THINK I WOULD JUST WRITE AND HAND DELIVER YOUR APOLOGY ON A SILVER PLATTER TO YOU? I KNOW YOU'RE TECHNIALLY A PRINCESS, BUT REALLY, CAN'T YOU THINK OF YOUR OWN ORIGINAL WAY TO DO THINGS?

CC: …I'm reely sorry, Karkat. Maybe if I tried )(arder, I could )(ave messaged you more often.

CC: But the problem is, I do think -Eridan mig)(t be a little right.

CC: If you think about it, nobody will want me to replace the Condesce if I like lowbloods too muc)(…

CC: But it's reely dumb that I )(ave to do that! It's all the )(emospectrum's fault!

CC: I )(ope that once I become the empress, maybe I can talk to you again.

CG: A LONG TIME AGO, YOU ALWAYS SAID ONCE YOU BECAME EMPRESS, YOU WOULD GET RID OF THE HEMOSPECTRUM.

CC: I don't know )(ow t)(at would work, t)(oug)(…

CG: I DO.

CC: )(u)(?

CG: I FIGURED OUT A PLAN.

CC: W)(ale, tell me! I can )(elp!

CG: NOT RIGHT NOW.

CC: W)(at? W)(y?

CG: I NEED TO SET SOME THINGS IN MOTION FIRST. I'LL MESSAGE YOU AFTER I HEAR NEWS ABOUT YOUR RULE.

CG: ALSO, THE PLAN WOULD BE PRETTY IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOMPLISH WITHOUT YOU AS EMPRESS, SO ANYTHING I TELL YOU NOW IS NULL AND VOID UNTIL YOU RISE TO POWER.

CC: O)(, I sea!

CC: So does t)(at mean you forgive me?

CG: FOR NOW.

CG: BELIEVE IT OR NOT, IT'S REALLY EASY TO SEE ERIDAN TRY AND PULL SOME DUMB SHIT LIKE THAT.

CG: JUST DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND KEEP YOUR NOSE CLEAN UNTIL YOU RISE UP, AND THEN SEE IF YOU CAN'T CONTACT ME.

CC: W)(ere do you t)(ink you'll be?

CG: HIDING. OBVIOUSLY.

CC: From?

CG: NO OFFENCE, BUT I'M HIDING FROM YOU "HIGHBLOOD" FOLK.

CC: )(e)(e, since w)(en did you put t)(at stuff in quotations?

CG: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

Terezi walked over to Karkat.

"COM3 ON, K4RKL3S, C3L3BR4T3 W1TH US!"

"…"

Karkat looked back down at the husktop.

CG: I HAVE TO GO.

CC: W)(y?

CG: UH. SERIOUS BUSINESS.

CC: O)(, good luck t)(en!

-carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC] -

"FINE, I'LL COME WITH YOU."

"R34LLY? TH4T W4S 34S13R TH4N 1 THOUGHT."


	29. Young Rebels

The seventh night, everybody was ready to get off the ship. They were just waiting to dock. Most were quiet, but Tavros, Karkat, and Vriska were squabbling in the corner.

"kARKAT, jUST CONSIDER IT,"

"NO. GET HER OUT OF HERE."

"bUT WE NEED TO THINK OF A PLAN TO GET OFF THE SHIP, aND VRISKA CAN HELP,,,wE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME,"

"I ALREADY KNOW HOW TO GET OFF THE SHIP, ASSHOLE."

"You do? And you've 8een keeping it from us?"

"STAY OUT OF THIS VRISKA."

"No! You need to tell us the plan!"

"NOT IF YOU'RE COMING."

Vriska stared right at Karkat. "Then I'm not coming. Get yourself and Tavros off the ship safely. Please, just stop hiding the plan from him."

The entire room gawked at Vriska. Did she really just say that? Did she really just offer to risk her life getting off the ship alone just so Tavros would be safe? What was wrong with this Vriska? Tavros looked down, and hunched over. He didn't want to leave Vriska behind. She saved his life twice now. She wasn't that bad anymore, he knew. Why didn't Karkat see that?

There was a muffled voice on the intercom. Sollux translated it.

"ii thiink he 2aiid we're dockiing iin a whiile."

"but we're not ready yet!" shouted Aradia, "i don't want to leave you all."

"i'm not too pawsitively excited about getting off the ship. this is a good ship."

"1T'S TOO B4D TH3R3'S R34LLY NO W4Y TO T3LL 1F 4NY TROLL 1S GOOD OR NOT. YOU'R3 4LL TH3 ONLY ON3S 1 C4N TRUST."

"Even me?" Vriska said sarcastically.

"SUPR1S1NGLY, L4T3LY YOU'R3 NOT 4S MUCH 4S 4 B1TCH."

Vriska looked up at Terezi. "You really 8elieve that?"

"M4YB3."

Vriska almost teared up, but realized that was stupid. She looked for an excuse to leave. "I have to go…think of how I'm getting off this ship."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Well, you're not letting me go with you, remem8er?"

"VRISKA, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SAY THIS IN A WAY THAT SHOWS HOW MUCH I DON'T CARE, BUT IF TAVROS TRUSTS YOU AND YOU'RE WILLING TO RISK YOURSELF LIKE THAT, THEN I GUESS I'M BEING THE ASSHOLE HERE."

"So I can go with you guys?"

"DON'T RUB IT IN MY FACE. I'M NOT TOO HAPPY ABOUT IT, BUT IT MIGHT BE BETTER IF WE HAVE A HIGHER BLOOD WITH US."

"What, so I can 8ail you out?"

"EXACTLY."

Vriska pouted, but was still happy she would have a better chance of surviving now.

"what are you three going to do once you get off the ship?" Aradia asked, "you've been marked for death."

"i DON'T REALLY HAVE A PLAN,"

"I dunno, go hide out?"

"YOU H4V3N'T 3V3N THOUGHT OF 4NYTH1NG?"

"No, I thought I was going to 8e a pirate!"

"kARKAT, wHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"WHY IN THE FUCK WOULD I TELL YOU?"

"bECAUSE MAYBE WE SHOULD HIDE OUT WITH EACH OTHER, sO WE'RE NOT ALONE?"

"I'M NOT HIDING."

"That's stupid! You'll pro8a8ly die or something!"

"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE EITHER."

Karkat looked in another direction. Everybody in the room now had their eyes on him. He didn't want to say it, it was a stupid idea. It was probably going to crash and burn at one point, and he'd be culled along with anybody that went with him. It was a dumb idea that was nothing more than a rehash of an old idea from another troll.

"what'2 wrong?"

It was one of those ideas where you think it's a great idea until you actually start doing it.

"COM3 ON, T3LL US."

It was one of those ideas that other people would actually think was a good idea until they thought about the details.

"karkat, what is it?"

It was one of those ideas that would never work.

"He's not saying anything, how useless. I 8et it's not even worth hearing."

It was one of those ideas that nobody in their right mind would get on board with.

"wE WON'T LAUGH, yOU CAN SAY IT,"

It was an idea that was really embarrassing to say out loud.

"what are you going to do, karkitty?"

It was an idea that was all of this, and yet it was a good idea.

"I WAS THINKING OF STARTING A REBELLION, OKAY?"

All eyes were staring straight at him. A few smiles were cracked, there was a small chuckle.

"1 W4S SORT OF HOP1NG YOU W3R3 GO1NG TO DO TH4T."

"WHAT?"

"yeah, if you do it right, we won't have to sepurrate! we can always be furriends!"

"BUT-"

"dO YOU MIND IF WE, uHH, hELP?"

"Y34H, COUNT M3 1N!"

"ii'd do iit two."

Karkat was dumbstruck. It was a stupid idea! Why were they...helping him?

"…IT'S DANGEROUS."

"8ut you're doing it."

"I MEAN-"

Before Karkat could properly object, the others were buzzing about joining him in secret. They tried to figure out how to find other followers of the rebellion without words, to ensure that none of them could get culled easily. Suddenly, Vriska had an idea.

"Give me your sickle for a minute."

"I STILL REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I GAVE YOU MY SICKLE, VRISKA."

She forced it out of his hands. She began to cut her left hand, where the Condesce symbol was forever engraved. She formed an X with her blood.

"If you see another troll with an X scar on their left hand, it means that they're with us."

"TH4T'S JUST SUBTL3 3NOUGH TO WORK! LOOK FOR TROLLS W1TH GLOV3S COV3R1NG UP TH3 SC4RS!"

The rest of the trolls quietly put an X on their left hand too. They were now part of the rebellion, and after they looked at their hands, they felt a weight lifted off of them.

"FOR THIS TO WORK, DON'T TELL ANYBODY WHAT THE MARKS MEAN UNLESS THEY ARE ABOUT TO GIVE THEMSELVES THE MARK. JUST SAY YOU GOT THE SCAR AS A WRIGGLER."

They all nodded.

But just then, they all felt a sudden jerk from the ship.

Everybody panicked. It was time.

Aradia and Nepeta quickly said their goodbyes and rushed out, binding parts of their old outfits to their bleeding hands. They giggled toward the rest of the group. Another façade placed upon themselves. As they left, olive and maroon tears fell to the floor.

"SOLLUX, WHY AREN'T YOU LEAVING WITH THEM?"

"ii'm on the run, remember? iif they fiigure out that ii was2 the helm2man that e2caped, ii'd have a punii2hment wor2e than death."

"ARE YOU TRYING TO ESCAPE WITH US?"  
>"ye2. ii2 that a problem?"<p>

Tavros intervened. "nOT A PROBLEM, sOLLUX, tHE MORE THE MERRIER,"

Terezi snuck over to Karkat, and shoved a piece of chalk into his hands. It was red.

"1 KNOW YOU TOLD M3 YOU H4T3 TH1S COLOR, BUT 1T'S MY F4VOR1T3, 4ND 1 W4NT YOU TO H4V3 1T."

Karkat looked at the chalk rubbing on his skin. He smirked.

"IT'S REALLY NOT THAT BAD OF A COLOR, I GUESS."

Terezi quickly kissed Karkat on the cheek, and ran over to join Aradia and Nepeta.


	30. The End

They were the last ones on the ship. The guards were absent too, so they waltzed over to their destination.

Vriska, Tavros, and Sollux followed Karkat to a strange room on the bottom floor of the ship. He said it was the cargo room, which was where they were keeping all of the food and…other things. It should be empty now, Karkat thought.

Sollux swung open the door, and inside the room they found lots of empty space and empty cages. There were trace amounts of mustard colored liquid inside some of the cages, which Sollux tried to ignore. Karkat ran over to a smaller door at the end of the room, tried to open it, and failed. There was a lock on the door that had a digital touchpad attached to it. Sollux told Karkat to, "2tep the fuck out of my way," and, "let me do my magiic." He fiddled with the terminal for a few moments before thrusting the whole door open.

What the trolls saw was the watery ground of their destination. It was very muddy, and they weren't really sure how the ship had even gotten to dry land. Now that they thought about it, when they entered the ship they were on dry land too. Strange. They could hear sounds from the docks near them, and the familiar cackles of their friends they had left.

It was obvious that Vriska's four wheeled device was never going to fit through the tiny door, so she ditched it. She didn't need it much anymore, right? Her wound must have healed by now-

"Wh8a!"

Vriska collapsed to the floor. Her wound was still a big problem.

"dO YOU NEED SOME HELP?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I don't. Nope. None at all."

Tavros sighed and tried picking her up. After a few tries, he managed to pick her up without dropping her. "oKAY, yOU GUYS FIRST,"

"after you, kk."

"Get on with it already!"

Karkat put his hand on the opening of the door, which wiggled a bit. He was tentative to get out. He just stood there, staring out at the ground not too far below him. It was just a jump away, he thought. There wasn't anything stopping him at this point. He was going to destroy this hemospectrum and pummel it to the ground. Karkat didn't think it was an embarrassing idea anymore; after all he had all of his friends including Feferi helping out. Behind him were just three of the many that he anticipated would join him. His left hand throbbed a bit from the pain of the scar. When he let go of the door to look down at it, he heard a voice from behind him.

"iit'2 now or never, buddy!"

And there was a push on Karkat's back. He landed on the ground, and looked up at the new sky, seeing the pink and green moons soaring directly overhead him.

**The End**

* * *

><p>-Squirt<p> 


End file.
